Hearts of the Olympians
by Kutlessrocker
Summary: It's Percy's 18th birthday.  What could possibly go wrong this year?  How about a Heartless invasion that not even the gods of Olympus could see coming.  Some Percy/Annabeth and Sora/Kairi romance.  Also my first RokuNami pairing after 5 RokuShion stories
1. Happy Birthday

Author's Note: Hey, guys. Here's the Percy Jackson/Kingdom Hearts crossover I've been working on. Chapter two is already in the works. I'm going to try to make this a whole lot better than Shattered Hearts. This takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts III (which I wish would hurry up. It will probably be forever until it's even announced.) Xehanort is dead, and the Kingdom Hearts universe has been experiencing an era of peace. As for the Percy Jackson universe, ignore the events of the Heroes of Olympus. I didn't work them in because only the first book is out. Jason, Piper, and Leo are still mentioned though. This contains spoilers for all released Kingdom Hearts games and Percy Jackson books. Enjoy friends...

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><p>"Ahhh," I sighed with relief. It was my eighteen birthday finally. It didn't seem like it had been two years to the day since we had defeated the Titan Lord, Kronos. Grover and Juniper were having a happy life together. Annabeth and I were still together as well. I would be having a birthday party at Camp Half-Blood after my party at home. I kind of hoped they would make an exception and let my mortal family come into the camp so we could all celebrate, but that didn't happen.<p>

I was walking along the docks at the canoe lake when I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth yelled from a distance. We had been dating for two years and she still called me by the same nickname she gave me when we first met six years ago. We were so young and immature back then. Those four years fighting Kronos had made us grow up too fast. We never really got to enjoy our teenage years. My heart pained at the thought of all the friends we had lost. Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckendorf, Michael Yew, and far too many more had all lost their lives during those hard battles. I felt a tear escape my eye at the thought of them. Sure, we had grown in numbers, but all of the people who died were irreplaceable.

"Hey, Annabeth," I said. I kissed her sweet, full lips and ran my fingers through her golden, blond hair. She twisted my short, black hair in her hands and kissed me back fiercely. She was so beautiful. She pulled away from the passionate embrace and looked at me for a while. I stared back into her intimidating, gray eyes. Long ago, I tried to decide whether they were scary or beautiful. I think I know now.

"Happy birthday, Percy," she said as she pulled out a small, neatly-wrapped box from her backpack.

"Aww, you shouldn't have," I said jokingly as she gave me the box. I opened it up to see a small, leather-bound book. I opened it to see that it was a photo album. It was full of pictures from the past six years we'd known each other. There were pictures from my first night at camp, pictures of me and Annabeth in battle armor, pictures of us with Grover and Tyson, and pictures from the many dates we had been on. There was a special section for our dead friends. It hurt to see them, but it also brought back good memories. One of them was the night before Beckendorf died. He and I were planning our ill-fated attack on the Princess Andromeda. He had me in a headlock and I looked like I would pass out from lack of oxygen. I could breathe underwater, but I was still getting oxygen from the water! "Thank you, Annabeth," I said. "I love you."

"I love you too, Percy," she said as she kissed me again. Annabeth and I had been through a lot together, and that made the bond between us even stronger. "See you at both parties? I asked.

"Of course, Percy," she said. "See you then." I watched her walk away toward the Athena cabin and caught myself checking her out. She was my girlfriend, I could do that. Her body was well-toned from years of fighting. She had to fight to survive for most of her life. She wasn't too muscular, but she was still strong. She could beat the crap out of me, and I'm invincible! Well, almost invincible. I do have that one weak spot on my back just opposite my navel, but she knows about that and is careful not to touch it. I keep it well-armored at all times because if I get struck there, I'll die. It's the only part of my body still attached to the mortal world. Sometimes, I wished I didn't have the Curse of Achilles, but it kept me alive during the second Titan War.

I walked along the edge of the forest for a while. I still had a few hours until I had to go home for the first party. I felt a chilling presence of death around me. I knew it could only be one person. "Hey, Nico," I said. Nico was the only living son of Hades left. It was kind of like how I was the only demigod son of Poseidon left. Thalia and her brother Jason were the only daughter and son of Zeus. None of us were ever supposed to have been born, though.

"Hey, Percy," he said. Nico had black hair like mine and brown eyes. He had just turned fourteen. His dad promised him the fastest car in the Underworld when he turned sixteen. He didn't really have much use for it though, he preferred shadow travel. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks, Nico," I said. Other than Hades, he had no family. His mom died back in the forties. He and his sister, Bianca, were really older than the rest of us. They were placed in the Lotus Hotel-a hotel where time moves slower-when they were little. Bianca died four years ago and he initially blamed me for it. He tried to kill me on a number of occasions, but he forgave me when he summoned Bianca's spirit from the Underworld and she told him that it wasn't my fault. I still blamed myself for her death for a while though. "You coming to my parties?" I asked.

"Sorry, Percy. I can't make it," he said. "That's why I dropped by so early. I promised I'd help dad out in the Underworld. The Hellhounds are getting too numerous and I have to help him send a few back to Tartarus. Plus, Persephone will probably chew me out for a while. You know how she doesn't like me that much." It was true; Persephone didn't like Nico and Bianca. She never got over Hades having demigod children with a mortal woman.

"It's ok, Nico. I understand," I said. It didn't bother me. I understood that Nico had obligations. He couldn't exactly tell his dad no. Hades would give him a one-way ticket straight to Hell for that. "See ya later."

"Take care, Percy," he said as he turned back to the shadows. He slightly turned back to me and said, "Oh, and one more thing, Percy. Watch out. I feel a growing presence of Darkness approaching the Mortal world. It's unlike anything I've ever felt before. It's not native to this world, it's something else, something Darker than any of us have ever known. The Mist won't even be able to hide this from mortal eyes." He turned back around and walked away through the shadows. He was probably going back to the Underworld to clean up the mess with the Hellhounds. I let his dark warning sink in for a while as I stood at the forest's edge. A Darkness that we've never seen before? What could be darker than Kronos? Riptide felt a little heavier in my pocket as I thought about it. Would this mean more fighting? Would it mean more dying? Fear struck my heart at the thought that I might lose Annabeth. We knew all too well how fast the Fates could choose to take someone away from us.

A few hours had passed. I figured I should head home for the party. Mom and Paul would be worried if I didn't get there on time. Paul Blofis was my second stepfather. My first stepdad, Gabe, was probably in some old lady's garden as a decoration right now. I chuckled as I thought about how mom turned him to stone with Medusa's head. He treated us like crap; he got what he deserved.

We still lived in that same old apartment in New York. It was a little bit nicer than it used to be, but it was still modest. "Percy, you're home!" mom said with delight as she ran over to me and gave me a hug. "How was camp?" she asked.

"It was great. I saw Nico and Annabeth. Annabeth will be here, but Nico has to help Hades in the Underworld," I said. Mom knew about the gods and the camp because she could see through the Mist.

"Ok, it's going to be a few minutes before everything's ready," mom said. She smiled at me and hugged me again. I went down the hall to my room to kill time until we were ready to start.

The party went by pretty quickly. Paul congratulated me on surviving to eighteen. That was an accomplishment for a demigod. Most of us didn't survive past sixteen. Monsters or other things would usually kill us by then. Mom cried about how her little boy was becoming a man. It was kind of embarrassing because my beautiful girlfriend was standing right there next to me. Annabeth laughed at my expense the whole night. Poseidon didn't show up, but I didn't figure he would. He had only ever come to one of my birthday parties. I understood he was busy being a god so it didn't hurt like it used to. But it still would have been nice to have my dad there. We had a cake and some ice-cream, blue cake and blue ice-cream to be exact. No matter how old I got, we still had that little inside-joke about blue food.

"Mom, dad, thanks for the party," I said. I considered Paul to be my dad. He was a good man to be willing to marry mom even though she had a teenage son. "I love you guys."

"We love you too, Percy," mom said. Paul had his arm around her and he smiled at me. "Now, get to Camp Half-Blood with your friends. Paul and I have a little date planned for this evening." They need not say more, I got out of there. Annabeth drove us to the camp. I didn't have a car because they are so impractical here in New York City. Her father had bought her car for her when she visited him in San Francisco two summers ago. It was a black Mustang. I wasn't sure what year it was, but it was a newer model and it was, to describe it with one word, beautiful! Annabeth drove with her left hand and I held her right hand. I would occasionally look over to her and she would do the same. "I love you," I said.

"I love you too," she replied. "Happy birthday, Percy." She turned the CD player on a low volume. Believe it or not, Annabeth and I liked the same music. She had a mix CD of different songs by Godsmack, Nirvana, and Linkin Park in the CD player. The Godsmack song, Voodoo, was playing. It was creepy, but relaxing at the same time.

We arrived at Camp Half-Blood a short time later. The party would be held at the dining pavilion because there were far too many campers to host it at the Big House like we used to. They always threw big parties like this for all the demigods, and they were always fun. "Percy, happy birthday," Chiron said. It was still startling after all these years to see him in his true form. He was a centaur. His lower half was a white stallion, and his upper half was a middle-aged man.

"Thanks, Chiron," I said. "Let's get this party started!"

The party went well. All my friends wished me happy birthday. We had more cake and ice-cream. But this time, we had to put a little in the fire in the center of the pavilion as a sacrifice to the gods. All in all, it was very fun.

Annabeth and I managed to sneak off by ourselves after the party died down. We didn't have to follow curfew tonight so we had the opportunity to spend some more time together. We didn't get to be together as much as we'd liked to. We went to the canoe lake and took a small boat to the middle of the lake to be alone for a while. "You look so beautiful in the moonlight, Annabeth," I said.

"Thank you, Percy. I love you so much, you know that right?" she stated. She seemed troubled about something.

"Of course, I love you too," I said. I was starting to feel concerned for her.

"Percy, can I tell you something? It's very important," she said. Her gray eyes were full of deep concern. I think I even saw a tear escape.

"You can tell me anything, baby," I replied, putting my hand on her knee. "What's wrong?"

"I have a bad feeling, Percy," she said. "I feel like something is going to go horribly wrong tonight."

"You know, you may be right," I said. "Nico came to me earlier today and told me he sensed a great Darkness approaching the mortal world. He said it was so big, The Mist won't even be able to hide it from the mortals."

Her big, beautiful eyes showed something I'd never seen in Annabeth in my whole life, absolute fear. "Percy, please don't leave me," she said with tears in her voice. "No matter what happens, promise me you'll be right there with me?"

"I promise, Annabeth," I said. "I'll never leave your side! I love you so much." I kissed her softly. She kissed me back, only harder. She acted like it was the last kiss we would ever share. I savored her taste. Our kiss was broken by a bump on the underside of the boat. We looked down to see what it was, but we couldn't see anything because it was too dark. It bumped us again. I used my powers of the sea to try to see what was going on. I felt an unfamiliar, aquatic life form under the water, but I couldn't communicate with it.

Suddenly, a large trident that was pulsing with lightning erupted from the bottom of the boat between me and Annabeth. It almost killed her because it was so close to us. Four submarine-shaped heads bobbed out of the water. They were green and had beady, yellow eyes. I tried once again to talk to them, but I couldn't. It was almost like they weren't really fish. I willed the currents to carry us toward the shore and away from those creatures. "Percy," Annabeth yelled over the waves, "what were those things?"

"Your guess is as good as mine!" I said. "I couldn't talk to them. They must be part of the Darkness Nico warned me about." We reached the shore to see that the whole dining pavilion was on fire! Someone had attacked it while we were gone. Demigods, Satyrs, and nature spirits were running frantically. Some were being chased by small, black monsters with the same yellow eyes I had seen on the ones in the lake. One monster caught up to an Apollo camper and dug its claw into his chest. Blood sprayed all over the monster as it pulled something out. It was his heart, but it didn't look like an actual heart. It looked like something from a Valentine's Day card. It was glowing red with a bright, white light radiating from the center. There was also a slight, black fog around the edge of it, but it was nothing compared to the light. The creature consumed the heart as the camper's body faded out of existence.

"Percy, what's going on here?" Annabeth shouted. She was scared out of her mind. I was scared out of my mind!

"I don't know, Annabeth," I said. She drew her celestial bronze dagger that was given to her by our dead friend, Luke. I uncapped _Anaklusmos_ and it grew into a three-foot-long celestial bronze sword. We went to work hacking and slashing at the monsters. We found out quickly that they weren't mortal because our celestial bronze weapons worked very well against them. The dark creatures would disappear into puffs of black smoke. Some of them were harder to kill than others, though. There was one, large monster that seemed to be their leader. It was at least thirty feet tall. It was black and had beady yellow eyes amidst what appeared to be either hair or tentacles. There was a heart-shaped hole in its abdomen and it could summon more of the small, shadowy creatures. Annabeth tried to take it on, but it easily swatted her away. She came crashing down into a tree. I immediately ran to her side. "Annabeth!" I yelled.

"I'm fine…Percy," she said through her pain. The ground started to shake as I felt the whole earth ripping apart. A dark orb with an orange-red core was hovering over the camp. I embraced Annabeth tightly in my arms as we were sucked up into the dark ball of energy.

I woke up to find Annabeth lying next to me. It was daylight. We must have been out for quite some time. I looked around and we were on an island in the middle of a vast, light-blue ocean. I stared in amazement at the beautiful sight before me. I loved the sea! Annabeth woke up right after I did. She winced from the slight pain she still felt. "Where are we, Percy?"

"I don't know," I replied. "But I don't think we're anywhere near New York or Camp Half-Blood anymore."

"Hey," a strange voice yelled from a distance. "Who are you two? Are you guys new around here?"

We turned to see three people around our age approaching us. The man that called out to us had long, silver hair and emerald green eyes that were a little lighter than mine. He was tall and was wearing baggy jeans, a black shirt with a yellow and gray jacket and gray shoes. He was seriously ripped too. His biceps looked bigger than my head! The other guy looked more childish and less muscular, but still very built. He had spikey, chocolate hair and eyes bluer than any ocean I'd ever seen. He was shorter than the other guy and he wore a black jumpsuit that was covered in all kinds of different colored pockets and zippers. The girl with them was really beautiful. She had big, violet eyes and long, wine-colored hair. She wore a pink, strapless mini-dress, a white halter underneath, and light purple shoes with laces that came up just above her ankles. "Hey," I called out, "I'm Percy Jackson and this is my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. We just washed up here." I looked at Annabeth and she was soaking wet. I was dry, of course.

"My name is Riku. These are my friends, Sora and Kairi," he said, gesturing to them as he said their names. "I sense strong light in you both. And I know you aren't from this world. Where are you from?"

"We're from a planet called Earth," I said. How could it be possible we were on another planet? "We're the children of our world's gods. My father is Poseidon, god of the sea, and her mother is Athena, goddess of wisdom."

"So you guys are gods?" Sora said. "That's so awesome!" He seemed very energetic.

"Demigods, to be exact," Annabeth interjected. "We're only half-god. We're still mortal, but we have the powers of our godly parents. His mother and my father are humans." She had obvious pain in her voice at the mention of our parents.

"How did you get here?" Kairi asked. She seemed like a sweet girl. I guessed she was Sora's girlfriend because they were holding hands.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "There were these black monsters running around killing people. And then the ground started to shake and a big, black orb of energy sucked us up. The next thing we knew, we were here." I managed to say all of that in one breath.

"Oh no, not again!" Sora gasped. "The Heartless are destroying worlds again!"

"The Heartless?" I inquired.

"Beings of Darkness," Riku clarified. "They are the Darkness in people's hearts manifested. It's what happens when someone is overtaken by Darkness. They are pure evil. Their sole purpose is to collect more hearts."

"Nico warned me of a Darkness approaching," I said.

"Nico? Is he a short kid with black hair and dark brown eyes?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, how do you know him?" I asked.

"A boy fitting that description showed up a few days ago and asked me about the Darkness. He said he was someone close to the Dark. I told him about the Heartless and how they tried to conquer the worlds. Then he left without a trace," Riku said.

"He's very close to the Dark. His father is Hades, Lord of the Dead," I replied. How much did Nico know that he didn't tell me? And I wondered if he made it out alive.

"The Heartless must be trying to take the worlds again, but I have no idea who could be controlling them. We finished off Xehanort last year after Riku and I took our Mark of Mastery exams," Sora stated.

"Mark of Mastery exam? Xehanort?" I asked.

"I think we'd better just show you two," Kairi said. The three of them held out their right hands and three unusual swords appeared in their grasp. Sora and Kairi's appeared in a flash of light, but Riku's came in a cloud of Darkness. Sora's looked like a simple skeleton key. The teeth of the key were shaped like the outline of a crown and the hilt was gold. Kairi's was very intricately designed and girly. It was mostly gold and the teeth were shaped like flowers. The hilt was shaped like a heart. Riku's looked more sinister than theirs. The blade was a red and black demon wing with an angel wing for the teeth. The hilt had a blue eye on it and was shaped like a demon wing and an angel wing forming a circle.

"These are called Keyblades. They're some of the few weapons capable of killing Heartless easily. They are very mysterious and we don't know much about them. They chose us because of our strength of heart," Riku explained. "The Mark of Mastery exam is a test for Keyblade wielders to prove that they have what it takes to be given the title of Keyblade Master."

"Are you Keyblade Masters?" I asked.

"Sora and Riku are," Kairi said, "but I only use my Keyblade in emergencies. I'm not very good with it."

"Nonsense, Kairi. I saw how you were two years ago at The World That Never Was. You were great, beautiful. I think you have what it takes to be a Master," Sora said. He gave her a quick kiss and looked over to me and Annabeth. "You guys said you were the children of your gods, right? Those names you mentioned sounded Greek. Do you, by any chance, know Hercules?" he asked.

"Hercules is dead. He has been for thousands of years," I said.

"Not the one I know," he said. "The Hercules I know is alive and well."

I turned to Annabeth and looked her in the eyes. "I don't think we're just on another world, Annabeth. I think we're in another universe," I said in amazement. I turned back to Riku. "Do you believe in inter-dimensional travel?"

"I suppose anything's possible," he said. "King Mickey banished a guy named Pete to another dimension about fourteen years ago. But, how would the Heartless get to your universe, and how will you guys get back?" he wondered.

"I don't know, but I don't think we have a home to go back to," I said. "I think those monsters destroyed it already. Everyone we know is probably dead by now."

"They're not dead, Percy," Riku said. "When a world is taken by the Heartless, its citizens are put in a sort of stasis. This world was destroyed three years ago by the Heartless. Our friends and families are still alive. Sure, there are some who are gone forever. They were turned into Heartless, but everyone just assumes they died in the storm. We let them believe that it was just a storm. They don't remember a single thing."

So, our families were still alive. Great, now we just had to get back and get rid of the Heartless in our universe. But figuring out how to do that would be another thing entirely. I reached for Annabeth's hand and squeezed it tightly. She looked at me almost like she knew what I was thinking. I was thinking that it would be a long time until we got back home.

"Well, while you guys are here, you can stay at my place," Kairi said. "I have a decently big house with all kinds of extra rooms. Sora and Riku are staying over tonight anyway. It beats spending all night on a beach." Well, Kairi was generous, I could tell that much about her.

"Thank you, Kairi," Annabeth said. She tried to stand, but she was still too weak to do it by herself. I hauled her arm over my shoulder and wrapped my arm around her waist. We hobbled over to Sora, Kairi, and Riku's boats.

We rode in Sora's boat. I took the opportunity to see if my powers worked in this universe. I tried to will the currents to carry us to the main island. They carried us, but not as fast as I would have hoped. I wasn't completely powerless here, but I was definitely weaker. Sora was still impressed though. I could tell he was a man of the sea. I saw that he really enjoyed being on the ocean.

"So, you said Nico was the son of Hades," Sora said. "I know Hades and he's a really bad guy. How do you know you can trust Nico?"

"We know a different Hades, Sora," I said. "I don't trust our Hades, but Nico is nothing like him. I know I can trust Nico." But I knew that statement was false. I didn't know if I could trust Nico. Sure, he warned me about the Darkness, but didn't he know how to stop it? Did he have something to do with this? I dismissed the thoughts of distrust as quickly as they came. Nico was my friend. If he had known a way to stop the Heartless, he would have warned me.

I looked out to the ocean around us. It was so amazing. "So, you like the ocean, Percy?" Sora asked.

"I love it. My father is the sea god, it's kind of in my blood," I said.

"It's beautiful, I love the sea. Actually, that's kind of funny because Kairi's name is derived from a word meaning sea. I guess I really love the sea," Sora said awkwardly.

"You really love her, don't you?" Annabeth said. "That's so sweet. She's really pretty."

"I love her more than life itself. She's saved me more times than I've saved her. Once, I was turned into a Heartless. I sacrificed my heart to save hers. She never gave up on me though. She walked up to my Heartless and used her Light to pull me out of the Darkness," Sora said. "I'll never be able to repay her for all the love she's showed me!"

"I feel the same way about Annabeth. She's saved me many times too. I bathed in the River Styx so I could be nearly invincible like Achilles," I said. I trusted Sora enough to mention I had an Achilles spot, but I didn't tell him where it was. "We were fighting the Titans and I was distracted with the monsters I was killing. A guy named Ethan snuck up behind me with a poison dagger and tried to stab my weak spot. I would have died if Annabeth hadn't risked her life to save me. She threw herself in front of the dagger and was stabbed in the arm," I said. I looked over to Annabeth and smiled.

"I wasn't about to let you die, Percy," she said. She looked at me lovingly with her iron-gray eyes. "I love you, Seaweed Brain." Sora chuckled at the nickname. I had a feeling that Kairi had an equally embarrassing nickname for him. I didn't dare ask what it was.

"I love you too, Annabeth," I said. I gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She blushed from the contact. She smiled at me and my soul melted.

We arrived at the main island after a few minutes. I said my goodbyes to the sea for now. I wished I could explore the oceans of this world, but we had a job to do. We had to get back to our universe and send every single Heartless to Tartarus where they belonged!

Kairi's house was pretty big. She said her adoptive father had been the mayor of the islands a few years ago. He was famous for serving the most terms of anyone who has ever held the office. "Hello, Kairi," Kairi's father said. He was a tall man. He was about six feet tall. He had deep-set, chocolate brown eyes with wrinkles around them like my father had. His hair was short, but not buzzed. It was chocolate brown with hints of gray. He looked like he used to be muscular when he was younger. He seemed like a kind man. "Who are your new friends?"

She glanced at me and Annabeth. "This is Percy Jackson, and the girl next to him is Annabeth Chase. They're not from around here. They're actually from another world." Her dad apparently knew about other worlds. "Is it ok if they stay here with us? Their world was destroyed by the Heartless." He apparently knew of the Heartless too.

"Well, given the circumstances, I don't see why not," he said. He called upstairs to his wife. "Honey, we have guests. They're friends of Kairi's and they need a place to stay."

"Coming," her adoptive mother said. She walked down the stairs and appeared in front of us. She was an attractive woman. She appeared to be in her mid-forties. She had long, red hair that was a lighter red than Kairi's wine color and it was curled. Her eyes were an ocean blue like Sora's. She wasn't very tall. She was about as tall as Kairi. "Well hello," she said. "It's nice to meet some of Kairi's friends."

"Pleasure to meet both of you," I said. "I'm Percy Jackson and this is Annabeth Chase." I motioned to Annabeth when I said her name.

"My name is Angela and you've already met my husband, Jeff," Kairi's mom said. "What brings you to the Destiny Islands?"

"Our world was destroyed by the Heartless," Annabeth said. I could tell that the thought of our home really hurt. Her voice faltered a little bit. I saw a small tear escape her beautiful, gray eyes. "We don't have anywhere else to go. We just woke up on the beach and Sora, Riku, and Kairi found us."

"Oh you poor dears," Angela said. "You can stay here as long as you need to."

"Thank you ma'am," I said.

"No problem," she said. "Kairi, show them to the guest rooms."

"Sure, mom," she said. Kairi thought of Jeff and Angela the same way I thought of Paul. They weren't her actual parents, but she loved them just the same as if they were. I could see it in her eyes.

We walked up the stairs to the guest bedrooms. "You really love them like they were your own parents, don't you Kairi?" I said.

"Yes," she said. "They are really the only family I have ever known. I'm originally from a world called Radiant Garden. I don't remember much though because it was taken over by the Heartless when I was four, and all I remember from that time is my kind, loving grandma. She's probably dead now and I never even got to say goodbye," she said as a tear escaped her eyes. "Jeff and Angela took me in like I was their own. So, of course I love them."

"I'm sorry about your homeworld, Kairi," Annabeth said.

"It's ok," she said. "And call me Kai. All my friends call me that. I try to look at it like this, if I hadn't come here, I would have never met Sora and Riku. They are the two best friends I could have ever asked for. And Sora…wow…he's been so good to me since we got together. He's always been good to me, but he really treats me right. We've had our share of fights, but he's never hit me. He hasn't even pulled his fist back like he was about to hit me." She smiled as she thought about her boyfriend. "I truly don't deserve him. But I'm so thankful that he's with me. This may sound crazy, but I really hope he asks me to marry him one day."

"That's not crazy, Kai," Annabeth said. "I think it's sweet and romantic." Her gray eyes lit up like the silver moonlight. I wondered if Annabeth thought about our future like that. She was a girl, of course she thought about that stuff. Heck, I even thought about it once or twice. Although, we were both still too young to even think about marriage. But I knew I loved her enough that I would be willing to marry her and commit my entire life to her right then and there without any regrets. I loved Annabeth Chase more than life itself. I would go straight into the bowels of Tartarus and fight every monster and Hellspawn in the Underworld if it meant being with her forever. Annabeth turned to me and looked into my soul with her intimidating eyes.

"I love you, Annabeth," I said.

"I love you, Seaweed Brain," she said. I started to protest about the name, but she was too quick. She shut me up with a firm kiss. I couldn't think straight, but I knew I heard Kairi chuckle a little.

After our little moment, Kairi took us to our individual rooms. Sora had noticed earlier that we both wore the same sizes and brought some clean clothes for me. I thanked him for his generosity. Kairi gave Annabeth some clothes too. We both took a shower because we didn't exactly smell like roses after our little ordeal.

I bumped into Annabeth in the hallway as we were getting ready for dinner with Kairi's family. Sora, Riku, and three of their other friends would be there too. They said it was kind of a tradition because it was the four-year anniversary of when the Destiny Islands were destroyed by the Heartless.

Sora and Riku arrived with the other friends and introduced us to them. "Percy, Annabeth, this Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. They are the only other people on this world that know what happened four years ago," Sora said. Selphie was a short girl with long, brown hair that twisted upwards on the ends. She had pale skin and green eyes just like mine. Tidus was about as tall as me. He had short, sandy-blond hair and deep, ocean-blue eyes. He was pretty muscular. Sora said he was the captain of the Blitzball team. I still didn't know what Blitzball was, though. Wakka was tall and just as muscular as Tidus. He had a peach-fuzz beard and orange hair. His hair was even redder than Rachel's. He had dark skin and dark eyes.

"Hey mon," Wakka said. He sounded like a Jamaican, and he was very friendly. "Welcome to the islands."

"Thanks Wakka. I'm Percy and this is my girlfriend, Annabeth," I said.

"Riku and Sora already filled us in on what you guys have been through, man," Tidus said.

"Welcome to our sandy little corner of the universe," Selphie greeted. She was very hyper and energetic.

"Thanks guys," Annabeth said. "It's great to know that there are people who understand what we're going through."

"Hey, it's no problem," Wakka responded. "Everybody's very friendly here on the main island. We all know each other and almost no crime."

"Well, that's a relief," I said. "Where I'm from, there's nothing but crime. I lived in a big city called New York. Every day, someone was getting mugged, beaten, or shot. It was horrible." The thoughts of home hurt a little. What if I never saw mom and Paul again? What about my friends at Camp Half-Blood? And what if they had been turned into Heartless and were gone forever?

"Hey everybody, dinner is ready!" Angela called from the kitchen. We all walked together toward the dining room and started to celebrate the occasion.

Annabeth and I felt sort of out of place in the celebration. It was probably because we hadn't been there. I felt like I was intruding on some sacred ritual. Kairi reassured us that we were more than welcome. She said that since our home had been destroyed, we were in the same boat that they were. Our problem just still needed to be resolved.

"This grilled chicken is delicious, Mrs. Hikari," I said. Kairi's mom could really cook! It made me miss my mom's cooking.

"Thank you," she said, her face curling up into a big smile.

"Yeah, mom it's…" Kairi trailed off. Suddenly, she gripped her chest and shrieked in pain. Sora started to jump over the table toward her, but the same thing happened to him!

"Sora! Kairi!" Riku shouted.

"What's going on?" I asked. Sora and Kairi looked like they were having violent seizures. I was afraid for them. I thought they were dying or something.

"I think I know what's happening," Riku realized. Just as he said that, bright lights illuminated the room. They were coming from Sora and Kairi's chests. Suddenly, something strange happened. Sora and Kairi stopped seizing. Their eyes and mouths opened wide. Two transparent figures sat up from their bodies. The two mysterious people started to become more solid. The one that appeared from Sora was a man about as tall as Sora. He had deep, cerulean eyes like Sora, but his hair was blond and spiked different. He was wearing an off-white jacket, a black shirt, and tan, baggy pants. The girl that sat up from Kairi was the same height as her. She had cerulean eyes like the boy and her hair was blond too. She was wearing a plain, white dress that came down halfway down her thighs. She was seriously beautiful. Riku just looked at them with his emerald eyes wide open. After a few minutes, he finally addressed them. "Roxas, Namine, what are you guys doing here?"

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><p>Author's Note: So, what do you think? Review button right below this text. Something must really be wrong for Roxas and Namine to be expelled from Sora and Kairi like that. Until next time friends...<p> 


	2. We Search for Answers to Our Problems

Author's Note: Hey guys, here's the next chapter of Hearts of the Olympians. These chapters will all be about this long, so they will take a while. I'll be working on Her Scars alongside this, so it may take a while for the next one. Special thanks to Dragginninja for the support. Check out his "Nobody's Heartless" series. It's has various crossovers of things like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Artemis Fowl, and Dragon Age. It's a very good read. Now, without further delay...

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><p>The blond boy looked at Riku. "I don't know what happened. I was just fine, but then I started feeling strange. I looked over the table at Namine and she told me she felt funny. Then, we just appeared here. It was weird."<p>

"Who are you people?" I asked in disbelief at what I had just witnessed. "What are you people?"

The beautiful girl turned around to me. "My name is Namine, and that's my boyfriend, Roxas," she said. "We are the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi."

"What's a Nobody?" Annabeth asked. She was visibly shaken after what we had just seen; her steel eyes said it all.

"We are the product of what happens when a strong-willed person is transformed onto a Heartless. We were born when Kairi's heart was in Sora and he released it with the Keyblade of People's Hearts. He was turned into a Heartless and his body was used as a catalyst to create both of us," Namine said. She seemed to be as sweet as Kairi was. I guess Nobodies had similar personalities to their original selves. "Usually, we look almost exactly like our original person, but Roxas and I look different from Sora and Kairi. I don't know why I look different, but Roxas looks like a fallen Keyblade wielder named Ventus. Sora contained Ventus' heart, but now it resides in Roxas again."

"This is so much to take in," I said. "I don't understand how this is even possible. Nobodies, people losing hearts…what is this place?" My mind was swimming with this load of information.

Sora and Kairi slowly sat up and stared at their doppelgänger's with disbelief. "I thought our fusion was supposed to be permanent!" Kairi said.

"I did too, Kai," Roxas stated. "This is so weird."

"No kidding," Annabeth said sarcastically.

"I'll bet this has something to do with Percy and Annabeth. They aren't from our dimension. Maybe the Heartless have caused some kind of imbalance by tampering with other universes. We have to ask King Mickey if he knows anything. And maybe even Ansem the Wise," Riku said.

"You two mind coming with us?" Sora asked me and Annabeth.

"Sure, we'll come," Annabeth said. "I want answers just as much as you guys do."

"Ok, I'll go prep the Gummi Ship and set the hyperdrive to take us to Disney Castle," he said. Kairi took his hand and they walked out the door. I was guessing that the Gummi Ship was some kind of space ship.

It took a few minutes, but Sora and Kairi came back into the house. Sora had a little grease stain on his cheek and Kairi was completely clean. "Ok guys, it's ready for takeoff," Kairi said. "We'll depart as soon as Percy and Annabeth are ready."

"We're ready," I said. "Let's get to the bottom of this and find out what's going on." Riku, Namine, Roxas, Sora, Kairi, Annabeth, and I walked to Sora's house next door. Sora moved a flower pot in his back yard and revealed a hidden trap door.

"Ok, we'll take these stairs down a few dozen feet to the teleportation pad," Sora told me. "The pad will take us to that volcano." He pointed at the volcano at the center of the island.

We all descended into the tunnel. The only light came from the teleporter room at the end of the hallway. Annabeth held my hand the whole way down. I kissed the top of her head gently. We stepped onto the platform and Sora typed in the password. It looked like "Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, Alice, Kairi". I wondered what significance, if any, that held. We disappeared in a flash of light and were inside the volcano. I looked down at the red-hot magma below us and it brought back memories from Mt. St. Helens. Annabeth and I had gotten lost in Daedalus' labyrinth a few years ago. We met Hephaestus and he sent us to the volcano to get rid of some intruders. I accidentally used my earthquake powers and set off an eruption. It killed the monsters, but also let the titan, Typhon, loose. That almost ended very badly for the mortal world, as well as Olympus.

The Gummi Ship was very large. It was shaped like something from an old Super Nintendo game. The color was predominantly orange and yellow. It had a blue and white cockpit and white wings. "Here it is, guys," Kairi said, flashing a stunning smile. "This is the Highwind, built by King Mickey and modified by Cid Highwind. It's the ship that took Sora, Donald, and Goofy from world to world when they were fighting the Heartless and Organization XIII."

"She's been through a lot," Sora added. "It's been attacked by Heartless and Nobody ships numerous times. I've learned a good deal about Gummi mechanics from having to fix this thing with Goofy. Donald never helped us fix it. But he did fly the thing." Sora stared at the machine and looked as if he was reminiscing on old times with his friends.

"This is awesome," I said. "But it doesn't look big enough to fit all ten of us."

"Yeah," he said. "Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka are staying here while we go. It's just going to be you, me, Riku, Kairi, Annabeth, Roxas, and Namine." I looked at my friends and wondered if all of us would be returning, or if it would end similar to the Battle of Manhattan. My heart pained at the thought that I might lose any of them. Enough of my friends had died.

"You sure you want to do this, Percy?" Riku asked with concern.

"Yeah, I want to get some answers about what happened to my world," I said.

Without another word, Kairi pushed a secret button on the underside of the ship and a hatch opened like the one on the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. We walked into the spacecraft and took our seats in the cockpit. Sora sat in the chair at the main front that had the controls. Kairi took the seat next to him as his co-pilot. Roxas initiated the life-support systems and inertial dampeners. Riku brought up a large map that I guessed was the hyperdrive controls. Namine, Annabeth, and I sat in the three extra chairs and relaxed. "Hold on to your seats. Even with these inertial dampeners, it will still be rough when we leave the atmosphere," Sora said. Kairi turned to him and he stared into her violet eyes with as much love for her as I had for Annabeth. She seemed afraid for Sora. I could tell that she had a feeling they wouldn't be coming back alive this time. He planted a short, but still passionate kiss on her full, pink lips.

The Highwind roared to life when Kairi pushed the big, red button. The ship started floating upward and we saw the ridges of the volcano pass until we saw the beautiful, blue sky. The ride got rougher as the blue sky slowly gave way to the black abyss of outer space. Stars were strewn around us in all directions. I was kind of afraid of flying because I thought Zeus would strike us down, but I figured that if Hades was evil in this universe, then Zeus must be a little kinder and more like the benevolent god he claimed to be.

Riku pushed a button on the control panel that said "Disney Castle". A hyperspace window opened in front of us and the stars passed by us at an incredible speed. We were traveling at faster-than-light travel. "I didn't think it was possible to travel faster than the speed of light," I said.

"We used to not be able to, but a race of people known as the Asgard gave us, as well as the people of our universe's Earth, all their technology in something called the Asgard computer core just before they went extinct. They were suffering genetic degradation after centuries of cloning themselves in an attempt to achieve immortality. Rather than die slowly and painfully from the genetic breakdown, they destroyed themselves by blowing their homeworld up," Kairi said with pain in her voice. "I was friends with the Asgard named Thor and he was so kind. They posed as the Norse gods when they visited earth about a thousand years ago. They were nothing like the Goa' uld, who were a race of parasitic, snake-like beings that possessed people by burrowing into their brains. If it wasn't for Stargate Command on Earth, they would have taken over their galaxy and moved on to our galaxy."

"So we're in a galaxy far away from the earth of this universe?" I asked with great curiosity.

"You got it," Roxas interjected. "You guys are about three galaxies away from the Milky Way. The Pegasus galaxy is between here and the Milky Way. The Alterans didn't get to populate our galaxy with Stargates like they did with Milky Way and Pegasus before they were forced to Ascend and save themselves from the Wraith."

"Ascend?" I wondered.

"It's a form of enlightenment. They Ascended and shed their physical bodies so they could live as pure energy for eternity. Ascension is a form of immortality I guess. The Asgard should have thought about it before they were too far gone to Ascend," he explained. "The Wraith are a humanoid race that feed off other living things to prolong their lives. They don't eat regular food like we do; they can only feed off of other organisms while that being is still alive. They were native to the Pegasus galaxy and the team from Stargate Command that was stationed on Atlantis took care of that threat. These three galaxies have experienced an era of peace since the defeat of the Heartless, Nobodies, Goa' uld, and Wraith. Now, the Heartless are back and apparently the Nobodies too. Namine and I must have been expelled from Sora and Kairi for some reason. You guys think John would know something about all this? He knows a lot since he's a time traveler."

"I don't know, but you know how hard it is to find John, Roxas. We might just want to stick with Mickey and Ansem," Riku said.

"Who's John?" Annabeth asked.

"He's an old friend of mine. He used to hang out with me and my two other friends, Axel and Xion. He was a special Nobody. His heart wasn't completely gone; it was shattered into a million pieces. He still has emotions, but he can never recover his heart and become his complete being," Roxas said.

"That's sad," she said.

"It doesn't bother him much. He's fine with it. He wields the most primal Darkness I've ever seen and dual wields energy blades proficiently," he responded.

"You mentioned other friends, Axel and Xion," Annabeth said. "Where are they now?"

"They died a few years ago," he said with tears in his eyes. "I almost forgot about Xion, but John took Sora back in time to see her and all the memories of her came flooding back." Namine walked over to her boyfriend and put her arm around him. "And Axel was the best friend I ever had. He sacrificed himself to help Sora save Kairi a few years back. If a Nobody ever had a heart, Axel did."

"Wow, sounds like he was a good guy," I said.

"He was. He and Xion were really my only friends in the Organization," he said. "They stuck by me no matter what. Axel even sacrificed his friendship with Saix to be friends with me. And he and Saix were friends from before they joined the Organization and were still human."

"I know what it feels like to lose people you care about," I said. "We were involved in a war against the Titans. It was a very long, very bloody war that lasted for four years. A lot of the people who were my first friends at Camp Half-Blood died in that war. The night we claimed victory, we almost cleared the entire forest to get wood for all the funeral pyres. It was so horrible." I felt a few tears of my own well up. Annabeth looked at me with compassion. She took my hand in hers and squeezed it tightly. I could tell she was thinking about Luke. Even if he betrayed us, he was still a hero in the end because of his sacrifice.

"That's so horrible," Roxas said.

I was just about to respond when Riku interrupted. "We're about to drop out of hyperspace. We'll be arriving at Disney Castle shortly." It was a very short trip since we were going faster than light. We left the hyperspace window and I saw Disney Castle in the distance. "We won't need to land this thing since the Asgard core has beaming technology."

Riku put a small thing on his wrist that looked like a watch. He pushed a combination of buttons and we were suddenly teleported to the surface of the planet. We appeared in a big, white library. The far side of the room had an enormous bookshelf. There was a desk and a small chair in front of it and walking brooms carrying buckets of water. A small man was sitting in the chair. At least…I thought he was a man. He looked up at us and I saw that he was a large mouse with big, black, round ears. "Hi guys," the strange mouse said. He looked over to me and Annabeth. "What are you doing here? You don't belong in this universe." Well that made me feel better.

"King Mickey, they are Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. They…"

Mickey interrupted Riku. "They are from another universe and they're the children of their world's gods, I know. I keep track of what goes on in other universes. These two were never meant to exist here. Something must really be bad if they were sent here."

"So you don't know what's going on either?" Sora asked.

"Gosh, I really don't. I wish I did, but the answer is just too far from my grasp," the short king said. "I've tried to contact Ansem the Wise, but I can't get in touch with him. You guys should go to Radiant Garden and see if you can find him." Radiant Garden, that was Kairi's homeworld. It sounded like a beautiful place because of the name.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Sora said reverently. He seemed to deeply respect the tiny rodent that ruled this world. Mickey seemed like a good man, err mouse.

"Report back to me when you find anything out, guys," Mickey said.

"We will, Mickey," Riku responded. He pushed another button combination on his watch and we were beamed back aboard the Highwind.

"Well, I guess we're going to Radiant Garden. We'll be there in about five minutes at sub-light speed," Roxas said.

Sora started the sub-light engines and we were propelled through the void of space toward Kairi's former home. I turned and looked at Annabeth and Namine. "So, what's so special about this Ansem guy?" I asked Namine.

"He's a wise man that rules Radiant Garden. He ruled a long time ago, but his apprentice, Xehanort, overthrew him along with Ansem's other five apprentices. Xehanort, Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo continued the research on the heart that Ansem had forbidden them to conduct. They unleashed the Heartless into the Realm of Light and they also lost their hearts. The Nobodies that were created as the result met up with each other and formed the Organization. They recruited more Nobodies from all over. Roxas was one of them." She turned and glanced at her boyfriend. "Though he was a lot kinder than most of them. Sora doesn't remember, but he saved me from their number XI, Marluxia, at Castle Oblivion. Ansem escaped from the Realm of Nothingness that Xemnas, Xehanort's Nobody, had banished him to. He covered his face in red bandages and called himself DiZ. Since Xehanort's demise, Ansem has taken over Radiant Garden once more. It's like he never left. A man named Squall Leonhart is his second-in-command."

"Wow, he sounds like he's been through a lot," I said.

"We're here guys,' Riku said. The world was bigger than Disney Castle. I saw a large crater on the main continent and what appeared to be a giant castle surrounded by mountains and a vast sea. Riku beamed us down to the surface and we found ourselves in front of the large castle. "This is Hollow Bastion castle. This is where Ansem lives."

We walked through the endless corridors and took what felt like hundreds of lifts up to the top of the castle. We stopped at a large door. "This is Ansem's study. This is where he spends most of his time doing research. He's very intelligent," Sora said. He knocked on the door and a tall man with flaming red hair and grass-green eyes opened the door.

"Well, well, well," the man said. "I didn't expect you guys." He looked at Roxas, startled at the sight of him. "Roxas? Is that really you?"

Roxas looked like he had just won the lottery. "Axel? Oh man, Axel! It's really you!"

"Well, the name is Lea now," he said. "Funny thing, before I joined the Organization, I tracked down my Heartless and killed it. Saix did the same thing and now, he's Isa again. We did that so that if we were ever destroyed, we would come back as a human. I appeared here on my homeworld and Ansem recognized me. He offered me a job as a bodyguard and I gladly accepted." He ran over to his old friend and embraced him. "It's just great to see you again, Roxas!"

"It's great to see you too, Axel. I mean, Lea," Roxas responded. His heart was overjoyed to see his best friend back from the dead.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we need to see Ansem, Lea," Riku interrupted. "It's very important."

"Ok, you can see him. I'll take you down to the old Heartless manufactory where he is doing research on his new theory," Lea said. "He's obsessed about inter-dimensional travel."

"That's kind of the reason we're here," Riku replied. "Percy and Annabeth here are from another dimension and they need to get back and take care of the Heartless that destroyed their world." It touched my heart to know that they were so committed to getting us back home. I could never repay them for all their help.

"Oh, if that's the case, then there's no time to lose," Lea said. He led us through a secret door in Ansem's study and we made our way to a computer room. We took a flight of stairs down to an enormous room set up with all kinds of equipment. There was a yellow, crystalline device hooked up to all kinds of wires. It looked like a powers supply. "Master Ansem, you have company."

"Why, if it isn't Sora, Riku, and Kairi," the old man said. He looked like he was in his mid-sixties. He had short, blond hair and amber eyes. He spoke with a thick British accent. "And Roxas and Namine, it's good to see you all again. And who are your new friends?"

"They are the reason we're here," Sora told the old scholar. "They are from another dimension and they want to get back to their home."

"Then they've come to the right place. I've discovered a rift somewhere between here and the Pegasus galaxy. I've informed Colonel John Sheppard and his SG team on Atlantis about the situation. Dr. Rodney McKay is looking into it on their end while I research it here." Ansem seemed very knowledgeable about many things. "There seems to be a growing power that came from the rift. Twelve, powerful, human-form Nobodies that are trying to take over the worlds came through the rift. They seem to have already conquered the worlds on their end." Twelve powerful Nobodies? That seemed very bad. They told me about what happened with the Organization. It looked like there was a big war looming on the horizon.

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><p>Author's Note: So, what do you think? I've always wanted to include Stargate mythology into a story. Stargate Atlantis is one of my favorite shows :). I've seen every episode. Remember to check out "Nobody's Heartless" by Dragginninja. And remember to check out my other story, "Her Scars." Until next time, friends...<p> 


	3. The Lost City of Atlantis

Author's Note: Hey. Here's the long-awaited chapter three of Hearts of the Olympians. Chapter three of Her Scars should be finished soon too. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story. If I didn't reply, I'm sorry. I've been pretty busy with finals last week, but now, my first year of college is over and I'm free until September. Enjoy...

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><p>"Well, we took the Organization down," Sora said confidently. "This shouldn't be too much of a problem."<p>

"Oh, these Nobodies are far more powerful than my apprentices and their colleagues were," the old man said. "They seem to have powers beyond what I normally would expect from a Nobody. These nothings make Xehanort look like a small child."

"Oh no," Riku said. "We had enough trouble with Xemnas. How could something be more powerful than him?"

Ansem looked at him with a look of despair. "That I do not know, young Riku." It really seemed like our plate was full on this one.

"Well, thanks for your help, wise Ansem," Riku said respectfully.

"It is my pleasure to help you in any way I can. It is the least I can do to repay you all for what you have done, what you have sacrificed." We beamed back aboard the Highwind and Riku plotted a course that I didn't recognize.

"Where are we going now?" I asked.

"The Pegasus Galaxy," Riku replied. "We need to get to Atlantis and see if they have any answers." Kairi opened a hyperspace window and we set off toward the Atlantis. "It's going to take a few hours at maximum speed. This thing can go way faster than Earth's ship, the Daedalus."

We sat around almost silently for the few hours that it took to get to the Pegasus Galaxy. We dropped out of hyperspace near the planet. It was mostly ocean. I was instantly in love! "Here we are, guys," Kairi said cheerfully. "This is Atlantis."

Sora opened a channel to communicate with Stargate Command on the surface. "Hello, this is Sora from the Destiny Islands. Is Colonel Sheppard there?"

"Hey, Sora," the colonel said. "What brings you to Atlantis?"

"It's the inter-dimensional rift that Dr. McKay has been studying. We have two people who are from the other side," Sora responded. "Requesting permission to land, sir."

"Permission granted," John Sheppard said. Sora let us slowly descend down to the surface. I watched as we got closer to the planet. It was so beautiful. I could live here forever and be content just sailing the oceans. I saw the large city of Atlantis with its towering spires and was amazed. I could only imagine how Annabeth was feeling. She lived for stuff like this. She was a great architect. She completely redesigned Olympus after Kronos destroyed it. I knew it would be hard for her to leave this place. "Welcome to Atlantis," Sheppard greeted. There were three people standing behind him. "I'm John. And this is Teyla Emmagen, Ronan Dex, and Dr. Jennifer Keller." Teyla was a short woman with really dark, bronze skin and long, brown hair. She looked like a warrior. Her body was very well toned and muscular. The man, Ronan, was very tall. He had dark eyes, rough facial features, long dreadlocks, and muscles that were bigger than my waist. I was very intimidated by his presence. And Dr. Keller, I could only describe her with one word. That word was beautiful. She was naturally beautiful. She wore no makeup. Her hair was medium length and dark blond. She had a very sweet smile and I could tell she was a good person right away. She was a doctor, after all.

"Pleasure to meet you," Ronan said in his deep, rough voice, reaching out to shake my hand. He was friendlier than I had expected. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.

"Good to meet you all too," I said, taking his hand. "I'm Percy Jackson and this is Annabeth Chase. We are the ones from the other side of the rift."

"Well, Rodney will want to see you right away then. He's been tracking the twelve Nobodies that came through the rift. We sent a Puddle Jumper out there, but they destroyed it and killed the two men piloting it," John said. I felt bad for him for losing two of the men under his command. I knew the feeling of losing comrades in arms. Too many of my friends had been killed in action. "We did get decent video of the Nobodies with the probe they sent out just before the leader shot them with, what appeared to be, a lightning bolt. You guys might want to see it. Rodney is analyzing it in his lab." And with that, John led us to a transporter to the lower levels. Atlantis was so enormous. Colonel Sheppard told us that it was a short walk to Dr. McKay's lab. I guess short was a relative term here.

After walking through the endless corridors for what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at McKay's lab. Ronan led the way and opened the door. "Ronan, how many times have I told you not to interrupt me," the doctor said rudely. I already didn't like him.

"We have two people from the other side," Ronan said.

"Oh," he said. He looked at me and Annabeth. He was middle-aged like most of the other people here. "Well then, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Rodney McKay, the smartest person to have ever lived."

"And the most arrogant," Teyla replied. I laughed at the witty comeback.

Rodney narrowed his eyes at her, but let the comment go. "Anyway, let's see what we have here." He walked over to a console that was covered with symbols that I didn't recognize. It must have been the Alteran's language. "Here's the video that the probe captured of the Nobodies."

Rodney started the video and what Annabeth and I saw rattled us to the core. "Oh my gods," I said. The twelve Nobodies were the twelve Olympian gods! I recognized Zeus at the front. He was followed by Hera, my father, Ares, Athena, Hermes, Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hades, and Dionysus.

"Mom?" Annabeth whispered with despair in her voice. Her steel eyes welled up with painful tears of betrayal.

"You know these guys?" Sheppard asked, raising one of his thick, black eyebrows.

"Know them? They are the Olympian gods from our universe," I said. I pointed to Athena and my dad. "That woman is Annabeth's mother and that man is my father."

"Oh, that's not good," Rodney said. I thought, 'duh', when he said that. Of course it wasn't good that we were going to have to fight and probably kill our own parents.

"I'm sorry," Kairi said to me and Annabeth. She put her hands on my shoulders with sympathy. She was so kind. I wondered how she could have been so perfectly kind.

I started to say something to Kai, but we were interrupted by a loud alarm. "Unscheduled off-world activation!" a voice said through the intercom.

"What's going on here?" Annabeth asked.

"Someone's dialed the Stargate from another planet," Sheppard clarified. We all ran back to the gate room and saw that the Stargate was active. "Are we getting an IDC?" he asked.

"No and the shield isn't activating. We're getting some kind of interference," a man with a thick, Scottish accent said.

"Well, I know what to do about that, Carson," Sheppard said. "Get ready to neutralize the intruders, Marines!"

Three people stepped through the Stargate and I recognized them immediately. Marines were prepared to blow them away in a hail of gunfire from their P90's. "Wait, don't shoot!" I said, jumping down from the second floor to the Stargate. "These are friends of mine!"

The three people were Nico di Angelo, Thalia Grace, and her brother, Jason Grace. "Hey, Percy," Nico said. "Dad told me you would be here."

"Percy, Annabeth!" Thalia squealed as she ran over to me and gave me a big bear hug. She'd gotten stronger since the last time we'd met. "I'm so glad you made it!" she said as she hugged Annabeth.

"Nico, Thalia, Jason, it's good to see you again. Did anyone else come with you?" I asked. I prayed that they would say yes. I was worried about Grover, Tyson, Chiron, and all the others.

"No," Nico said. "We're the only ones that made it out of Camp Half-Blood. I lost track of dad after he told me where you were. He was still in our universe when we left."

"I hate to tell you this, Nico," I said, "but our parents have been turned into Nobodies."

Their faces contorted into pained expressions. "No," Thalia said. "How could they let themselves give in to the Darkness like that?"

"It's very easy to do," Riku said. "The power of Darkness is so tempting. It is very powerful and very dangerous. It almost destroyed me when I gave in all those years ago." Riku's voice faltered at the mention of those dark memories. I could tell it was hard for him to talk about that. No matter how many years went by, he still had trouble forgiving himself.

"Thalia," I said, "what happened to that glow that you used to have?" She used to have a moonlight glow around her because she was one of Artemis' Hunters.

"It may have something to do with Artemis becoming a Nobody and a Heartless. She is no longer bound by that oath she took," Nico said. "Her immortality is gone."

"Like it was much of an immortality anyway," she said. "I could still be killed in action." I wondered if she ever regretted taking that oath.

"It's good to see you again, Nico," Riku said. "I'm glad you made it out of there."

"Thanks, it wasn't easy though," he said. "I guess it helped that I was in the Underworld at the time."

"Yeah, that may have helped," Riku replied. He took notice of Thalia and his emerald eyes lit up. I'll admit, Thalia was beautiful. She had short, shiny, black hair and electric blue eyes. "You," he said addressing her. "You look almost like she used to!"

"I look like who?" Thalia asked.

"She does, Riku," Roxas added with surprise in his voice.

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again. I look like who?" Thalia said. She was seriously getting irritated.

"You just remind us of our friend that died. Her name was Xion," Roxas said. "Only, her eyes were more of a violet-blue like Kairi's."

"What happened to her?" she asked.

"Xion was an imperfect clone of Sora and Roxas. She took the form of a black-haired Kairi because of Sora's memories of Kairi. She tried to fulfill her primary programming, which was to absorb Roxas' essence. That plan failed miserably and Roxas was forced to kill her," Riku said. "She didn't want to do it, but that's what she had been created to do. She died in Roxas' arms and he ended up absorbing her."

"That's so sad," Thalia said.

"Yeah, but as long as we remember her, she isn't really gone," Sora interjected. "She'll always live on in me and Roxas."

"I guess," She replied.

"Hate to interrupt your little reflection of old times," Dr. McKay rudely interrupted, "but we still have those Nobodies to worry about. Are you guys sure you can fight your parents?"

I turned to the aggravating scientist. "I don't know, but we at least have to try. Maybe we could find their Heartless' first and kill them so they'll come back as their original selves like Lea and Isa," I said hopefully.

"That could be a problem," Riku said. "We don't know what kind of Heartless they've turned into. Finding them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. The only reason Isa and Lea were able to find them so easily was because they were their Heartless. We can't tell the difference from them. Sora's Heartless, for example, was just an ordinary, dime-a-dozen Shadow."

"So, we may end up having to kill our parents?" Annabeth said with worry coating her angelic voice. I looked at her, then I turned to Thalia, Jason, and Nico.

"I'm afraid we might have to," the Scottish man said. I think John called him Carson earlier. "They pose a serious danger. They can't be left to just do as they please. I'm Carson Beckett, by the way," he said, reaching his hand out toward me to shake hands. I took it and introduced myself. "Well, I'm a clone of Carson. The real Beckett died in an explosion a long time ago." Geez, was everyone a clone here?

After a while, Ronan led us all to our quarters. Our rooms were pretty close to each other. I was next to Annabeth, Thalia was in the room next to her, and Jason and Nico were in the room next to that. Sora, Riku, and Roxas shared the other room next to mine. Kairi and Namine shared the room next to that one.

I sat alone in my room thinking about the future. What if I had to face dad? I had no problem with killing Ares, but I hated the thought of hurting dad or Athena. What would Annabeth think if I had to kill her mom? She would hate me forever! I sat and thought about that for what felt like hours, but was really only about half an hour.

I was snapped out of my trance by a knock on the door. "Who's there?" I called out.

"It's just us," Annabeth said. "It's me, Thalia, Jason, and Nico."

"Come on in," I said. Annabeth opened the door and the four of them walked over to my bed. I sat up to give them room to sit down.

"Percy, I have to ask you something," Annabeth said.

"Sure, you can ask me anything," I replied.

"I don't know if I can fight mom. If it comes down to it, will you help me?" she asked. I was shocked that she was asking me to help kill her mom.

"…I don't know what to say," I said. "I was actually just thinking about how we might have to fight them. I don't know if I'll be able to face dad, but we'll know when the time comes. We always do," I reassured. The reassurance was as much for me as it was for them."

"I don't know if I'll be able to fight Jupiter," Jason said. He always called the gods by their Roman names because Zeus was in his Roman form when he conceived Jason. "I might be able to fight Mars, Juno, and Neptune though," he said. The mention of my father's Roman name hurt. But, if Jason was willing to fight him, that meant I didn't have to.

"Don't worry," Nico said. "We can do this. We took down all the Titans. This should be easy!" I wished I had Nico's confidence. I used to have that confidence, but the Titan War destroyed most of it. I thought we were invincible, but the loss of so many of my friends shattered that illusion like glass.

We sat around and talked for a while until Nico, Thalia, and Jason went back to their rooms to go to sleep, leaving me and Annabeth alone together for the first time in days. "Percy, I'm scared," Annabeth said to me. I could just feel the fear radiating from her. "I had a really bad vision last time I tried to sleep." We took our dreams very seriously since demigods could have very accurate visions of the future through our dreams. "I was standing in the middle of the throne room at Olympus. I was all alone, but then you, Jason, Nico, and Thalia appeared next to me. I felt happy that you guys were there with me." The dream didn't seem too bad. "But then, you all disappeared and I was alone again. I looked down and saw I was wading in a pool of blood and I heard Thalia scream in pain!" She scooted closer to me and cried into my shoulder. "What if something happens to Thalia?" Thalia was one of her oldest friends. Thalia and Luke found her when she was nine and had run away from home. They led her back to Camp-Half Blood, but something horribly wrong happened. Monsters caught up with them at Half Blood Hill and Thalia was almost killed. Zeus turned her into a tree just before she could die. Annabeth had already lost her before; I didn't think she could take it if Thalia died again.

"Don't worry, beautiful," I comforted her, "I won't let anything happen. That dream could mean anything. It could just mean that we defeat them and Thalia just gets hurt a little." I knew that it probably did mean that Thalia would die, but I didn't tell Annabeth that. And hey, I could be wrong too. I was wrong about The Great Prophecy. I thought I was going to die when it was Luke that died. Only the Fates knew what would happen, and they were probably either Heartless or in stasis.

"I hope you're right, Percy," she said with tears running down her face. "I love you."

"I love you so much, Annabeth," I said.

We sat like that for a long time. Annabeth eventually went back to her room to try to get more sleep. I decided to try to sleep myself. I didn't know how long the nights were on Atlantis, so I didn't know how much longer I had to get some sleep. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep. I slept better than I ever had in my life.

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><p>I woke up the next morning to the sound of a siren. It sounded like the one that went off when the Stargate was activated the day before. Sure enough, someone said "unscheduled off-world activation." I ran to the gate room to see that the Stargate was active. "What's going on here?" I asked Sheppard.<p>

"I don't know. The shield won't activate either," he said. "Marines, you know what to do."

The marines prepared to unload their P90's into the intruders. Suddenly, a pulse of lightning went surging through the lower level, killing the marines that were in its wake. The smell of their burned, blackened remains made me sick. I hated the smell of burning flesh more than anything. I'd smelled my fair share in the Underworld and during the Second Titan War.

Zeus' Nobody stepped through the Stargate. "Percy Jackson," he called out to me, "come to me!"

I started to jump down to the gate, but Annabeth grabbed my shoulder. "Percy, don't do this," she whispered, trying not to alert the angry god to our presence. "He'll kill you! You saw what he did to those marines!"

"I don't think he's going to fight me," I said. "I think he just wants to talk. Besides, I'm invincible." I hoped my Curse of Achilles still worked here. I jumped off the balcony to where Zeus' Nobody was standing. "I'm here, Zeus," I said, slightly aggravated. "What do you want?"

"I want you to serve me," he said. "That is all I ask. I assure you that your father feels the same way."

"You guys aren't thinking clearly," I said as I tried to reason with him. "The Darkness has clouded your judgment. You need to come back to the light! You guys used to be gods of Light!"

"The Darkness hasn't clouded us, it has made us see clearly for the first time in our existence! I'll never return to the light," he said angrily. He raised a sword to me and I drew Riptide. "You will join us or die, demigod. It is your choice!"

"Death sounds a little more appealing," I said. I lifted Riptide to strike Zeus, but was halted. Something strange happened. My sword started to transform. The blade grew longer and teeth like a key's grew at the end of the blade. Those teeth were shaped like ocean waves cresting. The blade took on a bluish hue, and still retained its sharpness. A keychain appeared at the end of the hilt. The token at the end of the chain was the head of a trident. My celestial bronze sword had turned into a Keyblade.

"Impossible!" Zeus exclaimed. "How can you have a Keyblade and I can't? You aren't from this universe!"

Riku jumped down to where we were. "It doesn't matter what universe you are from. All it takes is a strong heart to wield a Keyblade," he said, drawing his wickedly sharp Keyblade. "And you can't have one, Zeus. You don't have a heart anymore!"

"No matter, young Riku," the former god said. "You will all die by the Blade of Olympus." He drew an even bigger sword than the one that he had before. It was about six feet long, the blade was glowing blue and radiating with all the power of Olympus. I'd only seen the Blade of Olympus once before. It was the last time I visited dad on Olympus. I wondered where that thing had been when we needed it during the Titan War.

Zeus charged at me with the Blade of Olympus and I parried his strike with Riptide. I was barely able to deflect the heavy sword, but I managed to push it far enough away from me. I lunged at Zeus, trying to strike him with the sharp blade, but he dodged it easily. Riku charged up a glowing fireball of Darkness and shot it at the god of Olympus. He managed to connect the spell and followed up with a series of slashes. He managed to cut Zeus with a few of them.

Riku was doing great until Zeus hit him with the hilt of the Blade of Olympus. Riku was flung across the room. His back hit the wall hard enough to probably break some bones. He groaned in pain as Zeus slowly walked his way. I moved in closer, but Zeus made it to him before I could. Zeus raised the ethereal sword, preparing to stab Riku with the massive blade. The blade was so large, it would have destroyed all of his internal organs with one stab. He thrust the blade downward, and I closed my eyes. I heard the blade go through flesh, but when I opened my eyes, Riku wasn't the one Zeus had stabbed.

I ran closer to see who it was that Zeus had impaled. I looked to see Thalia had been run through with the Blade of Olympus. She had jumped in front of Riku and sacrificed herself to save his life. She was bleeding profusely from the wound that extended from her chest to her bellybutton. "Thalia!" I screamed.

"Thalia? What have I done?" Zeus said with regret. He didn't have emotions, but Sora had told me that Nobodies still had the memories of emotions. It was the next best thing to real emotions. "I've killed my own daughter! I'm so sorry." Zeus pulled the blade out of Thalia and she fell into Riku's arms. Zeus remotely dialed the Stargate somehow and ran through it.

"Did anyone get that address?" Sheppard asked.

"Aye," Carson said, but I didn't care. I ran over closer to Thalia and Riku as I watched my dear friend die.

"Thalia, why did you do that?" Riku asked her.

"I couldn't just let him kill you, Riku," she said. "I didn't want to see someone I care about die."

"Someone you care about?" he said in amazement. "What do you mean?" I was wondering the same thing.

"I love you, Riku," she said through her pain, coughing up blood after each word. "I just wish I could have told you before this happened."

"Thalia…" Riku said weakly as he gently ran his fingers through her raven hair. She cringed in pain. She was bleeding out very fast, and didn't have much time left. "I feel the same, ever since the first time I saw you."

"Then I can die happy," she said. "See you guys in the Underworld?"

"Yes, Thalia," Riku said. "See you in the Underworld." Riku was crying. This was the first time I'd seen Riku vulnerable. I wondered if we shared the same Underworld in these two universes.

"Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Nico," she said as she addressed each of us, "get rid of those Nobodies for me. Do it in my memory. And especially make Artemis suffer for this betrayal! Goodbye guys."

"Goodbye Thalia," I said. "See you again in Elysium."

"Yeah," she said. She took in a few heavy, painful breaths through her ravaged and collapsing lungs. She shook violently and her eyes went blank as she released one, final breath before her soul left her body and went to the Underworld.

"Thalia," Annabeth whispered as she staggered over to our dead friend. She collapsed at Riku's side and threw herself over Thalia's dead body. She cried as she got Thalia's blood all over her. I walked over to her side and wrapped my arms around my love. She turned around and poured her pain out in a heartbreaking display of grief. I cried harder than I ever had before. Jason…I don't even know how to describe how Jason was reacting. They had to restrain him and Carson had to give him a heavy sedative before he destroyed the entire lower level of the gate room. Nico was calm, but he pretty much lived around death. I knew that, in his own personal way, he was grieving for her. He wasn't heartless; he was just a little more accepting of death than we were. He didn't see it as the end of a life, but rather the beginning of a new one. It was still painful for us though. I loved Thalia as a dear friend, and I couldn't believe she was dead.

"I can't believe she's gone," I said.

"Me either," Nico replied. "This is getting bad."

"You think?" Annabeth snapped. "I'm sorry, Nico," she said as she realized how she had snapped at Nico.

"It's ok, Annabeth," he said. "I'm sad that she's dead too. She's happy in Elysium with Luke, Beckendorf, Silena, and all the others."

"Luke is still in Elysium?" I asked. "I thought he was going for that reincarnation deal."

"He's still working on all the paperwork. It's a big procedure that takes a while," he said.

"Oh," I said. I didn't have it in me to say anymore. I looked back down at Thalia's lifeless body and gently closed her beautiful eyes. Dr. Beckett and Dr. Keller brought a stretcher and a body bag down to our level. Carson and I picked up her corpse and placed it in the bag. He zipped the body bag and we lifted her onto the stretcher before Carson and Jennifer wheeled her to wherever they take the dead bodies.

We all went to a little memorial that was arranged for the dead soldiers and Thalia. It was a very emotional service. Their bodies were placed in coffins that would float and they were sent off into the vast, blue ocean. We mourned the loss of so many people. Thalia's death would haunt us until we finally avenged her.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: So guys, are you shocked with Thalia's sudden, unexpected death? Don't get me wrong, I like Thalia. She was a great character in the Percy JacksonHeroes of Olympus series. Don't worry, her death won't be in vain. And the Blade of Olympus is the same one from the God of War series. I'm thinking of doing a full crossover and working Kratos into this story. Let me know what you guys think about that. It would be fairly easy for me to write him in. God of War is one of my favorite video games (only beaten by Kingdom Hearts, of course). Until next time, friends...


	4. The Power to Kill a God

Author's Note: Hey guys. Sorry this update was slow. I've been working on "Her Scars" and "A Heart Divided." Check those stories out too, and the rest of my stories while you're at it :). This has kind of become part of a trilogy that I call the "Hearts Trilogy." It consists of "Shattered Hearts", "Hearts of the Olympians", and "A Heart Divided." Kind of like the "Black Dahlia Trilogy." John from "Shattered Hearts" will be appearing in "Her Scars" alongside Kirox and Xorik from Dragginninja's "Nobody's Heartless" series as friends of Vanitas. John has also made a brief cameo in "Nobody's Heartless: Organization Days." Enjoy, friends...

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><p>After the funeral, Colonel Sheppard caught up with me as I walked to my room. "I'm really sorry about your friend, Percy," John said to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder trying to be friendly. "She seemed like a good person. Well, I guess she was since she sacrificed herself like that."<p>

"Thanks, Colonel," I said.

"Call me John," he corrected.

"Thanks, John," I thanked again. "Yeah, she was a good person. She was so selfless, brave, and loving. She risked her life every day and didn't think twice about it." Thinking about Thalia made my seaweed-colored eyes well up. "I'm gonna miss Thalia so much." I couldn't hold my tears back any longer. I didn't want to look like a crybaby in front of a high-ranking Air Force officer, but I couldn't help it. "I'm sorry, I have to go." I stormed off toward my room before Colonel Sheppard could see how broken I was.

I slid my hand across the little console that opened the door to my room and threw myself on the bed as I grieved for Thalia. I couldn't breathe. It felt like all the air was taken from my lungs. I felt a cold, dark presence materialize next to me. It was Nico. "Hey, Percy," he said. "I'm here for you if you need me."

"Thanks, Nico," I said. A dark thought entered my mind. I remembered a time when he was going to try to use my soul to bring his dead sister, Bianca, back to life. She had been a Hunter also, but was killed by a prototype of Talos in the Junkyard of the Gods. I wondered if we could use someone else's soul to bring Thalia back. But it was just a thought. I didn't think I could live with myself after doing something so selfish. Thalia was dead and never coming back. "But I just need to be alone for a while."

"Sure, Percy," he said. Nico knew better than to stick around. He knew that I wanted to be alone. There was only one other person I wanted by my side at the time. "Just remember that I'll always be there for you, man. And I'll tell Thalia you miss her next time I see her in the Underworld." I was a little envious of Nico. He could visit her soul anytime he wanted. Nico turned around and jumped down through the TV's shadow that was cast on the floor. I wondered where he was going, but didn't dwell on it too much. He was probably going to check out the rest of Atlantis.

I lay alone in my room for a few hours. I was startled when I heard a knock on my door. "Percy?" Annabeth asked, wanting to come in. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, baby," I said. She opened the door and walked over to my bedside. My angelic girlfriend sat down and scooted close to me as I wrapped my arms around her. She kissed me softly and I could hear sobbing escape her lips. I also tasted salty tears that were running down her cheeks and onto our lips. I wiped them away with my thumbs and gently pulled her closer. We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. "I'm sorry, Annabeth."

"You're sorry about what?" she asked curiously.

"I told you I wouldn't let anything bad happen," I said. "I failed and now Thalia's dead."

"It's not your fault, Percy," she said sweetly, yet also sternly. "It was you and Riku who were fighting Zeus. You didn't know Thalia would sacrifice her life like that. It wasn't her fight, but she couldn't restrain herself. She couldn't just sit and watch you two be killed."

"I was in no danger, though," I said. "I'm invincible." As far as I knew, I still had the Curse of Achilles.

"I don't know about that, Percy," she said as she drew her celestial bronze dagger. "Let me see something." She took the blade and put it on my palm. I closed my eyes as she swiftly pulled the knife, dragging the blade across my skin. I opened my eyes and saw that I was bleeding like anyone else. That shouldn't have happened. Her knife should have shattered into a million pieces before it wounded me! "Just like I suspected," she said soberly.

"Oh my gods, Annabeth," I said in disbelief. "I'm not invincible anymore! How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but I had a feeling you wouldn't be invincible anymore. I noticed on the Destiny Islands that your powers over the sea have been severely weakened and I think the only reason you still have them at all is because your dad is here," she said. "Things that pertain to our universe don't work the same way here. Maybe you would have to bathe in this universe's Styx to be invincible here."

"Makes sense to me," I said. I was a little more than upset that my invincibility was gone. "But hey, at least I got this." I held out my hand and my new Riptide Keyblade appeared in it. "This kind of makes up for the invincibility, right?"

"I guess," she said. She laughed a little and returned to my embrace as I dismissed _Anaklusmos_. "I love you, Percy," she said.

"I love you too, Annabeth," I replied lovingly. I truly loved her more than anything. I'd die for her in a heartbeat, and I had a feeling that I would probably do just that very soon. "Don't worry, I'll always be with you." I kissed the top of her head as she slowly drifted off to sleep. It wasn't long before I fell asleep myself. I slept a deep, dreamless, visionless sleep.

When I woke up, Annabeth was still lying down beside me. She'd stayed there the whole night. I gently rubbed her arm for about five minutes before waking her up with a kiss. I always loved the taste of her lips. I can't really describe it. They have a very sweet, very comforting, and very natural flavor. Most girls wore lip gloss that had a different flavor of its own, but not Annabeth. There was nothing artificial about her. "Good morning, beautiful," I said as her gray eyes fluttered open. She was so cute when she was half asleep.

"Good morning, Percy," she said through her grogginess. She sat up and stretched her arms out as she let out a big yawn. "What time is it?"

"I have no idea. I still haven't figured out how time moves on this planet," I answered. They also hadn't put a clock in this room.

Annabeth was about to say something when we heard a knock on the door. "Hey, can I come in?" Ronan said. I wondered what Ronan wanted.

"Sure," I answered.

The tall man walked in and stood next to the bed. "I was sent here to ask if you guys were ready to start thinking of ways to take those Nobodies down," he said. "Dr. Beckett managed to get the gate address Zeus dialed and we've identified the planet."

I looked at the blond angel that lay beside me and she nodded. "We're ready," I said.

"Good, then follow me," Ronan instructed. He led us down a few hallways through a little shortcut to the gate room. Annabeth nudged my arm and I turned my head to look at her as we followed Ronan.

"Did you have any idea that Thalia and Riku were together?" she asked.

"No, I was shocked when she said she loved him. They only knew each other for a day, didn't they?"

"Yeah, but they spent most of their time together the other day. I saw them standing on a balcony overlooking the ocean and they were talking. They looked really cute together," she said sadly and softly, taking a deep breath afterward. "He's taking her death pretty hard."

"Nowhere near as hard as Jason is, though," I said. "Jason has really changed. It's almost as if he's a different person."

"I know, I don't like it," she told me with concern in her voice. "Darkness is a tangible force in this universe. It seems that people's feelings, memories, and hearts have a greater influence on the physical world here than they did back home. I'm worried about Jason. He might slip into Darkness." I shared Annabeth's fear for him. You couldn't just let your hurt and rage go unchecked here. You had to be careful of Darkness creeping into your heart.

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Namine, Jason, and Nico were already waiting for us by the Stargate. We would be going to the world Zeus had fled to and confront him or whoever was still there waiting. Ronan, Teyla, and Col. Sheppard would be coming with us. They were armed with extra ammo and C4 explosive. They had given Namine a pistol, some grenades, and something they called a "Wraith Stunner" that looked like a cross between a pistol and a phaser from Star Trek. This wouldn't be easy. "You guys ready?" I asked the group.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jason said. His voice still held hurt from the loss of his sister. I wondered what he was going to do to Zeus when he got his hands on him. I had a feeling the Fields of Punishment in the Underworld was a more merciful fate than what was going to happen to Zeus when Jason found him.

"Percy," Sora said. "Take this. It's a Keychain to put on your Keyblade. I won this in the Olympus Coliseum a few years ago. It will make Riptide more powerful." He handed me a round, yellow token with a lightning bolt carved into it attached to a chain. "This is the Olympia Keyblade. Keychains change the appearance and power of your Keyblade. Riptide is just your Keyblade's base appearance. It will look like that with or without a Keychain."

"Thanks, Sora," I said. I put it in my pocket for now. I would use it later if I needed it.

Dr. McKay dialed the Stargate and the symbols lit up. They were very strange shapes, which were absolutely killer on my dyslexic eyes. Ronan said that they represented constellations and the world that was dialed was somewhere between those specific coordinates. No two planets had the same address.

The event horizon of the wormhole formed with a large vortex as it stabilized. I took a deep breath as we walked through the gate.

Barely even a second later, we walked out the other end of the wormhole and set foot on the planet. The Stargate deactivated behind us and we walked through the landscape. It was a barren wasteland. I wondered why the Alterans even bothered to put a Stargate here. In the distance, there was a newly-built Greek building. That must have been the gods' headquarters. We walked toward the building with weapons drawn.

We all entered the building to see that it was a replica of the throne room on Olympus. Twelve thrones circled the room and all of the best things about Greek architecture were represented in this one room. "Show yourself, Jupiter!" Jason screamed in hatred for his father. "You'll pay for what you did to Thalia you coward!"

Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder. "It's no use, Jason. They're not here."

"Maybe not all of us, but I'm still here, half-bloods," a woman called from behind us. The sound of her familiar voice chilled me deep inside.

"Artemis," I said, not really addressing her, just getting my thoughts together. I turned to see the beautiful, auburn-haired goddess standing about three yards behind me with her bow aimed right at my head. I held up Riptide. Annabeth, Jason, Nico, and the others raised their weapons as well.

"Wait," she said. "I come in peace."

"Bull crap," I said.

"No, I truly have no intention to harm you," she said, lowering her bow. "I actually want to help. I've had a falling out with the rest of the gods. Zeus killed one of my Hunters. I can't just let that go!" So what, she wanted revenge? "I have useful information that you may want."

"Well then, talk Diana," Jason said. Pissed isn't exactly the word for what he was feeling, but it was close enough. He'd really changed since Thalia died.

"Zeus is planning on opening Kingdom Hearts," she said.

"Oh no," Roxas said. "With that kind of power, he could destroy all the worlds!"

"And then he'll recreate them in his image," Artemis added. "He'll enslave the surviving denizens of the worlds. We can't let that happen!"

"A few hours ago, you were on board with this plan," Riku said. "What would make us trust you?"

"You have a point, young man," she said. "You have no reason to trust me. But I do need you to give me the benefit of a doubt. Thalia Grace was the best Lieutenant I'd ever had. I want to avenge her death as much as you do. You have to believe me."

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and I dismissed our Keyblades and everyone else lowered their weapons. "Ok," I said to Artemis' Nobody, "I trust you, but you better not betray us. Not unless you want me to cut you to ribbons with _Anaklusmos_."

"Thank you, Perseus," she said. "I hope that we can work together as well as we did when we fought Atlas all those years ago." We had teamed up once before. In the winter of 2006, Atlas and Luke tricked her into taking the burden of the sky. It almost killed her. Annabeth, Thalia, and I saved her before she could be crushed. I had to take the burden for a little while. It gave me a gray streak in my hair from the stress and it took forever for it to go away.

"Yeah, sure," I said. I didn't really trust Artemis, but she was all we had to work with. The second she showed even the slightest sign of betrayal, she was going down. I'd kill her myself. As I thought about what I'd do to her, I felt something foreign enter my heart. I knew it immediately. It was Darkness. I knew I had to stop myself before I was taken over, but it just felt so good. I urged myself to resist, and the Darkness left me. I realized what Riku meant a few days ago when he said it was easy to give in to the Dark. It was a high like no other.

"Well, where did they go?" Sora asked. His voice held a seriousness that I'd never heard from him.

"They went to a world called Olympus. They seek to take over by eliminating their counterparts that rule there," she said.

"We can't let that happen," Sora replied. "There are people on that world that need and worship those gods!"

"Then I suggest we leave immediately," the angelic goddess suggested. "They have a head start, but I know that your ship has faster-than-light travel. Their chariots can't move that fast. If we leave now, we can arrive before they do." And with that, we left the throne room and departed to Atlantis through the Stargate.

We stepped through the portal and all guns were pointed at Artemis. "Wait, she's on our side now. She's defected and wants to help us now," I said. I tried to be as convincing as possible.

They lowered their guns and let us through to the hangar that the Highwind was parked in. "You guys sure you don't want us to tag along?" Sheppard asked. "We don't mind helping you."

"We need to do this on our own," I said. "See ya later, John."

"See ya, Percy," he said. Riku set the hyperdrive to take us to Olympus and as soon as we cleared the atmosphere, Kairi opened a hyperspace window using the Asgard Computer Core.

It took a few hours to get back to Sora, Riku, and Kairi's galaxy from the Pegasus Galaxy. "So, what's this Olympus place like?" I asked. "Is it anything like the Olympus we have back home?"

"It should be very similar, if not identical," Riku said. "I've never met the gods, but they should be similar to your parents. There's a Coliseum that they use all the time. Sora always wipes the floor with the competition in the games. He's even single-handedly defeated Hercules, Hades, the Ice Titan, Rock Titan, and a very powerful man named Sephiroth in the tournaments. If you were here under better circumstances, I would suggest you guys enter in the games."

"Maybe we can after this is all over. I'd like that," I said.

"It is also the location of the Underworld," Sora added. "I've been there a few times and it's so creepy. They have a Coliseum too, the Underdrome. The fights there are far more brutal, but a whole lot more fun." Sora mentioning the Underworld made me think. What if we could strike a deal with their Hades to bring Thalia back from the dead? I didn't think it would actually work, but hey, it was a thought. Thinking was something I had a lot of time to do during the long, boring trip from the Pegasus Galaxy to Olympus.

We arrived at our destination. The world looked like it was still intact. We landed in an area that looked like ancient Athens. Greek architecture was all over the place. It felt good to be in a place where I could actually read the signs. "So, this is Olympus," I said. "It's just like the stuff we have back home."

"Sora, Riku, Kairi," a voice called out, "I wasn't expecting you guys. And who are your friends?"

The man was tall and had bronze hair, perfectly tanned skin, and enormous muscles. I could tell right away that he was a demigod. "Hercules," Sora called as he ran to the son of Zeus. "It's good to see you again." He turned to us and introduced each one of us. "This is Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Jason, Roxas, and Namine. And that is…"

"Artemis?" he asked. "Is that really you? You look different, but I still recognize you."

"I'm not the Artemis you know, half-blood. I'm from another universe. The other gods from my universe are on their way here and they are going to try to take over Olympus. We have to stop them Heracles."

"We can't let that happen. I'll go warn my father," Hercules said. The mention of Zeus made my blood boil. I had to remind myself that this was a different Zeus. This one was probably more benevolent than the other one had ever even hoped to be. Hercules took off and we were left at the Coliseum gates.

"You think we can do this?" Jason asked.

"Having the gods on our side will help a lot," Riku said. "I've never met them, but Hercules speaks highly of them. They're nothing like the ones from your universe."

"But they're still our parents," I said. "Regardless of whether they're Nobodies or not, it doesn't change the fact that their blood flows through our veins. I don't know if I can fight dad!"

"Don't worry guys," Sora said. "When the time comes, we'll be ready."

'Easy for you to say,' I thought. Sora's parents weren't the ones that had been corrupted by the Darkness. When this was all over, he could go back home to his parents. My father was a Nobody and I had to kill him before he could destroy everything else.

Hercules arrived a few minutes later and informed us about what the gods said. "Dad doesn't believe me. He said that there was no other Zeus and even if there was, he could destroy him single-handedly. You guys have to come with me and convince them that the threat is genuinely real!"

"Ok," I said. Hercules led us to the throne room of the gods. The room was almost identical to the one back home. The gods, however, looked very different.

For example, each one was a different color. Literally, Ares was red, Athena was blue, and Aphrodite was pink. It was so weird. Dad, I mean, Poseidon was green. My head was spinning from the color overload. "What is the meaning of this, son?" Zeus said, outraged that he brought us here. "What are these mortals doing on Olympus?"

"I had to give you proof that there are people from another dimension. These two," he said, pointing at me and Annabeth, "are Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Percy is the son of Poseidon from his universe and Annabeth is the daughter of Athena. You have to believe me! You're all in serious danger." Hercules was pleading to his father to listen. Zeus, however, remained unconvinced. He was just as stubborn here as he was back home. I didn't like this Zeus either.

"If you truly are the children of other gods, then prove it!" Zeus said, challenging me specifically. "Show powers that only a son of Poseidon could have."

"You asked for it," I said. There was a large tub of water off to the side of Poseidon's throne. I willed the water to rise and completely soaked Zeus. "Is that proof enough?" I asked with a smirk on my face. That was something I'd wanted to do for a long time.

"You did as I asked, but I'm still not fully convinced that you are who you say you are. I may need further…"

"He gave you all the proof you need, Zeus!" Artemis yelled at the stubborn god of the sky. "What more do you want young Percy to do?"

"And who, exactly, are you? You look familiar, but you can't be who I think you are," Zeus said, rubbing his long, white, curly beard as if he were deep in thought.

"I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt. I am from their universe. If you don't listen to us, then you will all die!" she said, pleading for Zeus to believe us.

"Nonsense, gods cannot die," he said. "I'm immorta…" Zeus was cut off mid-sentence. I looked to see that his heart had been pierced by the Blade of Olympus. "But…how…can this…be?" Zeus' eyes glazed over and his godly glow faded away as the King of Olympus died. The Zeus from my universe stepped over his counterpart's dead body as the gods of this universe all fled from his presence.

"Well, if it isn't Percy Jackson and his friends. And Artemis, my favorite traitor," he said evilly.

"How could you, Zeus?" Annabeth said. "You've just killed a god from a universe that needed him! He was practically you!" She was outraged at the monster that Zeus had become. She said some other things in Ancient Greek that weren't exactly very ladylike. Jason looked like he was going to rip Zeus' head off, but he knew better than to attack. His sword was no match for the Blade of Olympus.

"I'm going to take his place, young Annabeth," Zeus said. "I'll reshape this universe in my image. I'm going to make this place what our world should have been!"

"I was hoping that we could save you," Kairi said, having spoken up for the first time in a long time. "But now I see that you're just another Nobody." She drew her Keyblade-which I now knew was called Destiny's Embrace-and took a battle stance. I decided to put Olympia on Riptide. The Keyblade took a strange shape. It was about three feet long. The blade looked like it was made of solid marble and had Olympia written down the side of it in English, but with the letters shaped like Greek letters. The teeth at the end looked like clouds. I felt more powerful just holding it in my hands.

Sora drew his Ultima Weapon Keyblade. It looked very similar to the Blade of Olympus in that it was blue, long, and sharp. There was an intricate, silver webbing along the blade and the teeth were shaped like a large heart. Roxas drew both of his Keyblades. Oathkeeper, which was a medium-length, white Keyblade that had two, connected shafts for the blade. The teeth were shaped like the Japanese character for Light. It was very angelic and beautiful. Oblivion was far more menacing. It was long and black. There was the shape of a chain going down the length of the insanely sharp blade and a blue diamond at the part where the blade connects to the hilt. The teeth of Oblivion were shaped like the Japanese character for Darkness. They were complimentary of each other, Light and Darkness coexisting in harmony like Yin and Yang.

Riku drew Way to the Dawn and Namine pulled out her pistol and C4. They had also given her a P90 on Atlantis, but she didn't think she could handle a weapon like that. The 9mm and C4 was all she was willing to use. We prepared to fight the god of Olympus.

"I'm sorry, children of Light, but now is not the time for us to do battle," Zeus said. "But please, give my regards to Hades in the Underworld." Zeus held up his free hand and we were sucked into a portal of Darkness.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: So, what do you think? Does this measure up to the other chapters? I think this may be the first Kingdom HeartsPercy Jackson/Stargate Atlantis/God of War/Hercules crossover ever. lol. Stay tuned for more of this, more of "Her Scars", more of "A Heart Divided", and Dragginninja's "Nobody's Heartless" series. Also, check out Master'sEnd for some great Roxas/Xion and Vanitas/Xion stories. Until next time, friends...


	5. The Darkness of the Underworld

Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I've been working on other projects and also had slight writer's block at times. It probably won't take as long for chapter six. Chapter six of "Her Scars" is in the works right now, as well as chapter four of "A Heart Divided." This particular chapter will switch PoV's at times in this order: Percy, Roxas, Kairi, and Jason. This is to give the other characters a little bit more screen time, instead of just the ones Percy talks to at the time. Without further delay, I give you the fifth chapter off "Hearts of the Olympians." Enjoy, friends...

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><p><em><strong>Percy's PoV:<strong>_

We woke up in a dark, damp area. The smell of death was everywhere. I immediately knew where we were. We were in the Underworld. "Nico, Jason, Annabeth, are you guys there?" I called out, but no answer. "Roxas, Riku, Kairi, Namine, Artemis?" But still, there was no answer.

I started to give up, but I felt something nudge against my leg. I kicked and someone yelped in pain. "Hey, watch where you're kicking! That really hurt," the voice said.

"Sora, is that you?" I said. I was relieved that someone else was with me.

"Yeah," he said. I couldn't see him because the room was pitch black. "What did you kick me for?"

"I didn't know it was you, man," I said.

"It's ok, I'm alright," he replied.

"Do you know where the others are?" I asked. I hoped he would say yes, but I had a feeling he was just as clueless as I was.

"No," he answered. "I just woke up here when you kicked me in the head."

"Well, we better find them fast. We have to stop Zeus," I said. "But where do we go first?"

"How about you guys follow me," a voice called from the Darkness.

I drew my Keyblade and the flash of light illuminated the mysterious man for a split second. I prepared to attack when I saw his enormous sword that was slung over his shoulder. "Wait, Percy," Sora called out just before I could swing at the old man. "He's a friend!"

"You have friends in the Underworld?" I asked. I guess it made sense that he had friends that had died.

"It's good to see you again, Sora," the man said.

"Good to see you too, Auron," Sora replied. "It's been a while since we took Hades down together."

"Two years, hasn't it?" the older man mused. "And I'm guessing your name is Percy, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Percy Jackson," I said. "Are you an old friend of Sora's or something?"

"Yes. He helped me when I was under Hades' control a few years ago. I've been free thanks to him. My soul has been at rest until now. I sense a disturbance in the fabric of reality," Auron said. I still couldn't see him since it was so dark.

"Well, Auron," Sora said. "Lead the way." We followed the deceased swordsman out of the cavern we were in and eventually were led to a little light.

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><p><em><strong>Roxas' PoV:<strong>_

I woke up hearing the crackling of fire around me. I looked at my surroundings and saw that I was on the only patch of land that wasn't on fire. I heard tortured screams of countless people all around me. There was only one place I could possibly be. I saw Nico and Riku beside me, unconscious. "Hey, wake up guys," I said, shaking each of them.

Riku groaned and woke up first. "Roxas? Where are we?"

"My best guess, I'd say we're in Hell, or the Fields of Punishment at least," I said. Nico woke up right after Riku did. "We've got to find a way out of this before we're burned alive."

"Don't worry, this fire won't kill you," Nico said. "It was created to torment souls for eternity. It doesn't consume, but it does cause immense pain." Like that made me feel any better.

"Hey, you guys seen the others?" I asked. I was worried about all of them, but especially Namine. She didn't have the same abilities the rest of us had. She didn't have a Keyblade or know any basic magic. I hoped she still had her guns so she could defend herself. If something ever happened to her, I don't know how I could live on. And since Kairi was still around and she didn't have a Heartless to kill, Namine would disappear forever if she died. Same thing would happen to me, but I wasn't worried about myself. I had Oathkeeper and Oblivion whenever I needed them and I knew every single spell and had every ability Sora and Ventus possessed. Namine was as defenseless as a small child.

"I don't know where they are," Riku said, worried about our friends and my other. Sora and Kairi were his best friends. I could feel the bond they shared through Sora during the time I was fused with him. I'd talk to Ventus' consciousness about how close they were. He would tell me how he used to be the same way with Master Terra and Master Aqua. He'd always talk about how he missed them so much. I'd sympathize. I had friends I missed too. Axel, Xion, John, and Demyx were my best friends in the Organization. They were the only ones I really liked. Well, John didn't count as an Organization member since Xemnas was really just trying to kill him. But he and Axel were the only ones still alive. I wondered if Demyx was here in the Underworld.

"We have to find them then," I replied. I turned to the dark son of the Lord of the Dead. "Nico, you're a son of Hades. Can you do something about this Hellfire?"

"Yeah, I can clear us a path. Follow me," he said. "But stay close. I can't keep the flames at bay for a long time. If you're caught in this, you'll be trapped for eternity with no hope of escaping." Nico closed his eyes and concentrated. He was summoning every ounce of power that his father had endowed him with. He suddenly opened his dark eyes and held out his hands. The fire that was directly in front of him was extinguished. "Ok, hurry up and stay close to me."

We ran through the inferno. I tried to ignore the screams and cries for help that came from the fires. They broke my heart. Well, was it really my heart, or Ventus' heart? Was I anything more than a manifestation of Ven? No, I am me and nobody else. But regardless, it was hard to keep from trying to save them. "Isn't there anything we can do for them, Nico?" I asked, talking about the condemned souls.

"Sorry, we can't save them. They're here because the Judges of Death deemed them unworthy of Elysium or even the Fields of Asphodel. If they're here, there must be a reason. Only people like Tantalus, Adolf Hitler, and Jack the Ripper are here. Good people are in Elysium and people who were neither good nor evil are at the Fields of Asphodel. We couldn't even save them if I wanted to," he said. After his explanation, I felt better about ignoring their screams. But it was still hard. Did all of these people deserve this? It was hard to believe that so many people had done something to condemn themselves to this Hell. I honestly didn't believe that they all deserved it. But hey, who was I? I'm not Hades.

We eventually made our way out of the burning plains of the Fields of Punishment. When we reached the border, Nico collapsed in exhaustion. I understood that keeping us from burning in the fires of Hell took a lot out of him. Plus, this wasn't his universe. His powers were severely weakened here. "You going to be alright, Nico?" Riku said, concerned for our new friend.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, panting heavily. "I'm just tired. That took a lot out of me. But I'm alright. Let's keep going. We need to…" Nico was interrupted by Cerberus, who jumped out of nowhere.

"I thought that thing was supposed to be dead!" I yelled over the loud roars coming from its three heads. It was about twenty-five feet tall and it looked like a large, black, three-headed Rottweiler with very sharp teeth in each of its three heads. Each head had large, red eyes. They had a murderous look in their eyes. It looked like each of their heads were thinking about which one of them got to eat which one of us.

"The Underworld needs a guardian," Nico said. "The Cerberus from our universe can't die either. As many times as you kill it, it will keep coming back."

"Then what good will it do to fight this thing?" I asked.

"So we can stay alive," Riku interjected.

Nico drew his Stygian Iron sword from his side. Riku materialized Way to the Dawn and I summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion. I looked at the Keychain of Oathkeeper. It was different from Sora's Oathkeeper. His Keychain was the good luck charm Kairi gave him on Traverse Town. Mine was a real version of the Paopu charm Namine transformed Kairi's charm into in Castle Oblivion. She'd made it special for me. The Keyblade was Oathkeeper since Kairi and Namine are technically the same person. I'd put it to good use here with Cerberus and then find Namine and the others. But Namine was my top priority.

The demonic canine lunged toward us with its big, sharp claws. I dodged to the left, Riku dodged to the right, and Nico jumped straight toward the center head. His Stygian Iron sword pierced the middle head's jugular vein. The other two heads screamed in pain as they felt the middle one die slowly. Nico climbed around the monster's neck, dragging the sword through its skin as he went. The center head was decapitated and more blood poured out of the demon.

"Nice one, Nico," I yelled. I concentrated and used my XIII Blades attack. I summoned thirteen tall, white pillars of light that had the Nobody emblem at their peaks and sent them flying toward Cerberus. He managed to dodge all but one. The one that hit him cut his right rear foot. The Guardian of the Underworld reeled in pain as black blood oozed from the decent gash that I inflicted upon him with my Limit Break.

Riku leaped at the monster and buried Way to the Dawn in the right head as I stabbed the left head with Oblivion. Nico coated himself in Darkness and leaped through Cerberus' heart. More black blood spewed from the demon's mortal wounds as it collapsed to the ground, gurgling out one, last death cry. Cerberus' corpse disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

"Whew, we did it," Riku said.

I dismissed Oathkeeper and Oblivion and sat on a rock next to Riku and Nico and took in a deep breath. "Yeah, but it was too close for my comfort," I said.

"I need a little rest before we go on," Nico said, trying hard to catch his breath. "Using the Darkness like that really took a lot out of me."

"Go ahead," Riku said. "Take as long as you need." Riku knew all too well how Darkness could take a lot out of you. Being a Nobody, I never had to worry about the Darkness. I was mostly Light anyway. The Darkness could never destroy me like a human.

We sat and let Nico rest for a few minutes, but we didn't have much time to waste. We had to find everyone else and get out of the Underworld before Zeus destroyed everything.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Kairi's PoV:<strong>_

I woke up underneath Annabeth and Namine, Annabeth's bronze dagger hanging from her belt dangerously close to my jugular vein and Namine's P90 pointing straight at my face. They both appeared to be unconscious. I tried to wiggle my way out from under them without startling them. One wrong move and Annabeth might accidentally slit my throat.

I managed to get out without dying and looked at my surroundings. We were on a river bank. I saw a long boat with a ghostly man rowing it. We were next to the River Styx. I looked at my reflection in the water and I looked awful. My crimson hair looked like a raccoon made a nest in it. I tried to fix it the best I could, but it was still messy. I just decided to sit on a rock and wait for Annabeth and Namine to wake up.

The two blonds eventually woke up. Annabeth placed her hand on her head like she had a headache. "Where are we?" she asked.

"Oh, my head," Namine groaned as she stood up. My other looked even worse than I did. Which is strange since I usually thought she was so much prettier than me. She and I had arguments in my mind all the time when we were one. She'd insist that I was more beautiful than her and I'd stand firm that she was the prettier one. Sora never thought it was strange that I carried on conversations with Namine. He'd do the same thing with Roxas. Roxas is the one that told him about those conversations. Apparently, Roxas and Namine were able to be with each other in some other dimension or something like that and she told Roxas, who told Sora, who told me. "Kairi, where are we?" Namine asked.

"We seem to be on the bank of the River Styx. I haven't seen the others," I replied, answering their questions. I was worried about Sora, Riku, and Roxas especially. Annabeth obviously had Percy, Nico, and Jason on her mind. I knew Namine was thinking about Roxas because she was me, and I was her. I knew everything about her.

Annabeth stood up and walked over to me. "We should get going, anyway. I'm worried about the guys." And by "Guys" she mostly meant Percy. She loved him just like I loved Sora.

We walked down the bank of the Styx and eventually came to a pier. There were two, demon-like things standing at the end of it, looking out toward the Underdrome. One was short, fat, and pink. The other was taller, but still short. And he was blue and skinny. "Excuse me," I called out. "We're a little lost. Have you seen our friends?"

They turned and walked toward us. The fat one introduced himself first. "Hi," he said. "My name's Pain and this is my friend, Panic." Panic, the blue one, looked nervous. I had a feeling Hades wasn't too fond of him. "And what do your friends look like? Are they dead or something?"

Annabeth looked at me, probably hoping I'd ask about Thalia. "I hope not. They were alive when we came here. Their names are Sora, Riku, Roxas, Percy, Nico, and Jason. The goddess, Artemis, was with us as well. We were separated."

"I know Sora. He really cleaned up the Underdrome a few years ago," the pink imp said. I may be able to help you girls find your friends. On one condition," he added.

"Anything just to see Sora again," I said hastily. I had a feeling that I'd regret it though.

The blue one snickered and rubbed his hands together in excitement. "You three have to go five rounds in the Underdrome without dying. If you die, then you lose," the blue one said. Like that wasn't totally obvious. "You will fight the five most powerful champions of the Underworld. You'll go up against the Hydra first. Then you'll fight Medusa, a Phoenix, the Kraken, and finally a mystery opponent that you just have to wait to see. It will be so fun!"

"Fine, we accept," I said.

"But Kairi," Annabeth said. Her gray eyes held so much fear. "What if Hades decides to kill us anyway, or what if we're condemned to fight in the Underworld forever if we win!"

"You want to find Percy, Nico, and Jason again, don't you?" I asked. She nodded in agreement. I turned to Namine. "You want to find Roxas again, right?" She nodded as well. "And I desperately want to see Sora and Riku again. It's settled. We'll fight in the Underdrome."

"Ok, but it's your funerals," Pain said with an evil look in his eyes. It would have been a pretty safe bet to say that he'd enjoy watching us die slow, painful deaths.

We took the ferry over the River Styx to the Underdrome. It was bigger than anything I'd ever seen. The stands were full of the spirits of the dead. I thought I saw grandma sitting up there, but she was lost in the crowd as soon as my mind registered it. I wanted to shed a tear or two, but I had to be strong. If grandma was watching, that gave me more incentive to fight my hardest.

We stood in the middle of the arena, all eyes watching our every move. I drew Destiny's Embrace and prepared myself. There was a good chance I'd die here, but I didn't care. I just wanted to see Sora again.

Annabeth pulled out her dagger and Namine reloaded her P90 and 9mm. They looked scared, but so was I. I was terrified of the Hydra alone, not to mention Medusa, the Phoenix, Kraken, and this unknown champion. I was curious to find out who could be so powerful that they were the champion of the Underworld.

A skeleton soldier opened the gate on the far end of the arena. I smelled rotting flesh and all kinds of other foul odors coming from the opened gate. A long, purple claw reached out and dug into the ground. Another soon followed and the monster emerged from his hiding place.

The Hydra was enormous. He had three heads attached to his body by extremely long necks. Each head had glowing, yellow eyes and razor-sharp fangs. Saliva and the blood of his last victim was dripping from all three of his mouths. "This should be easy enough," Annabeth said. "I've fought this thing before. We just need to cut his heads off and seal the wounds with fire so he can't re-grow his heads."

We all agreed to her plan. Namine started firing at the center head with her pistol to distract the beast. When she had its attention, Annabeth jumped on his back and started stabbing wildly with her celestial bronze dagger. The monster reeled in pain. That was my signal to attack the necks. I used a powerful technique that Sora taught me, Zantetsuken, and decapitated all three heads at the base of the neck. "Triple Firaga," I yelled as I cast three, white-hot fireballs to the neck and sealed the wounds. The Hydra fell and his body dissolved in a puddle of Darkness before disappearing altogether.

"Congratulations," a voice called out from a large balcony above us. "You little runts survived the Hydra. I'm very impressed."

"Who are you?" I called out.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Hades, Lord of the Dead," he said. "You'll get to know me a little better when Medusa finishes you off. She's a real looker, too. See for yourself."

"Don't look at her!" Annabeth yelled. Namine and I closed our eyes immediately. I could hear the snakes in her hair slithering as she slowly walked between us.

The horrible monster slithered her way around me. When she spoke, her voice sounded like knives being dragged across concrete. Her voice chilled me to the core. I'd never been so close to death before. "Come now, Kairi," she whispered in my ear. "Let me see those beautiful, violet eyes of yours. Namine and Annabeth have already let me see their eyes." They hadn't said anything, so I couldn't tell if she was lying. I prayed she was lying. "Open your eyes, pretty girl. Annabeth had such beautiful green eyes." That was a fatal mistake on Medusa's part. Now I knew she was lying. Annabeth had gray eyes! I quickly drew Destiny's Embrace and blindly swung the Keyblade. I made contact with something, and heard the monster scream in agony for a split second before it was silenced forever. I risked a quick look to see Medusa's decapitated body in front of me just as it was collapsing to the ground. I used my right foot to feel for her head and gave it a hard kick away from us.

I looked up toward Hades and heard him clapping. "Bravo, Kairi," the God of Death said. "I'm impressed that you killed Medusa so easily. I'm so impressed that I'll just let you skip to the main event." Hades turned to the guard at the gate. "Guard, open the gate and let the champion fight Kairi one-on-one.

"Kairi, are you sure you can do this yourself?" Namine asked. I looked to my other half and hugged her tightly.

"I don't know, Namine," I said honestly. "But I have to try. If I don't, we'll never see the guys again." I let go of my Nobody and she, along with Annabeth, was escorted out of the arena. I looked back up to the stands to see that grandma was there. She smiled at me with that same smile I remembered from when I was little. I smiled back and a tear escaped my right eye.

The guard raised the gate and I saw a shadow approaching out of the darkness. My eyes grew wide with shock as I saw the familiar face of my opponent.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Jason's PoV:<strong>_

I woke up lying next to Diana, the last person I'd ever want to be alone with. I hated all the gods, but especially her and Jupiter. If it weren't for them specifically, Thalia would still be alive! Diana appeared to be conscious. "You're awake, half-blood. That's good," said the beautiful goddess that I hated so much.

"Yeah, I'm awake, Diana," I said bitterly, conveying the idea that I held no love for her or her kind. I honestly didn't care to kill all the gods. If I didn't need her at the moment, I would have killed her where she stood. I wondered if I could even trade her soul for Thalia's. But Diana would have to agree to that, and she was far too pathetic to ever do something so selfless. My amazing sister was dead, and she wasn't coming back. I'd have to wait to see her again in Elysium when I die. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Not exactly," she responded. "All I know is that we're in the Underworld somewhere and we are separated from the mortals and other half-bloods. Heracles didn't come with us. He's still in the mortal world."

"Out of all the people in our group, why did I get stuck with you?" I muttered. She heard me.

"I know you hate me, son of Zeus, but please give me the benefit of a doubt," she said. "I deeply cared for Thalia as well. I didn't want her to die. I want to destroy our father as much as you do!"

"All you gods are the same," I snapped back. "You are just a bunch of fools that are obsessed with power that wasn't even yours in the first place! None of you created anything! Jupiter took power from Kronos, who took it from Uranus."

"I know," she said, staying calm even though I was tearing her apart with my cruel words. "I was there, and I helped Zeus fight the Titan War. But understand, half-blood, that we only sought to make the world better for humanity when we fought the Titans. We were trying to help." I'd never seen a goddess cry before, but Diana appeared to be holding back tears. "Your sister was like a sister to me as well. She was the greatest Lieutenant I'd ever had. I would have loved for her to serve under me for eternity, but she decided to sacrifice herself."

It was hard to argue with Diana when she was telling the absolute truth. Thalia did sacrifice herself for Riku because she loved him. "Well, we better get moving, Diana," I said, a little less angrily than I had addressed her before. "We need to find the others before something really bad happens."

And with that, we set off into the bowels of the Underworld to look for our friends.

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><p>Author's Note: Hey guys, how did you like it? Remember to review. Reviews give me helpful advice on how to improve and also give me more incentive to update faster. Special thanks to Frenzi99, who has been faithful to review every chapter. Thanks, man. Also, special thanks to Dragginninja and Master'sEnd for their support and helpful advice. Dragginninja helped me out when I had writer's block a few days ago. It was his idea for Kairi, Namine, and Annabeth to fight in the Underdrome. His Nobody's Heartless series is really good. And check out Master'sEnd's stories. "Of Sea-Salt Icecream, Love, and College" is one of my all-time favorite stories. "Etched" is awesome too. There are tons of others, but you should check them out for yourself. Remember that the review button is below this text. I want to hear your theories on who the familiar mystery fighter that Kairi has to face is. Until next time, friends...<p> 


	6. Otherworld Awaits You

Author's Note: Hey guys. As promised, it didn't take me as long to update as it has in the past. After this, it will go strictly Percy's PoV for the remainder of the story. This chapter is mostly Kairi's PoV. It kind of just happened like that. I like writing for Kairi and may even do a solo story for her in the future. But that's a long way away and I have many more ideas in the works. Currently I have this, "Her Scars," "A Heart Divided," and mine and Dragginninja's collaboration, "Battle Royale." Check it out. The first battle is up and Dragginninja is working on the second as we speak. I'm also working on the third. Also check out Master'sEnd and Maisuki-Chan if you haven't. They're all talented writers. Enjoy, friends...

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><p><strong><em>Percy's PoV:<em>**

Sora and I had been walking with Auron through the Underworld for a few minutes in complete silence. I could tell Auron was a man of few words. I finally decided to speak up. "So, Auron, do you even know where we're going?"

He stopped and turned toward us. "Yes," he stated simply.

"Well, where are we going?" I asked. I was getting a little impatient.

"To the Underdrome," he said. "Three of your friends are fighting the Underworld's strongest fighters to the death as we speak."

Sora gasped and I felt the blood drain from my face. Sora spoke up first. "Who is it?"

"I don't know their names, but they are three girls, two blonds and a redhead. There's also something about the blond with gray eyes," he said. It had to be Kairi, Annabeth, and Namine. "She doesn't seem completely human. She's just like you, Percy."

"That's because we're demigods," I said. "Our parents are the gods of our universe."

"Demigods," he mumbled to himself. I couldn't tell if he was smirking, or if he always looked like that. "Well, we'd better get to them fast before the champion kills that redhead."

"What do you mean kills her?" Sora choked out, fearing for the love of his life.

"She can't kill him because he's immortal," Auron clarified. "Well, not immortal really. He's already dead, like me. He has been for some time. He's a very powerful warrior and a skilled swordsman. I've fought him on a number of occasions and I can't defeat him."

"Oh no," Sora said. I could tell he was so afraid that Kairi was going to die. I was afraid for Annabeth, but I knew she would be ok. If she could challenge Kronos and survive, I didn't worry about her too much here.

"That's exactly why we need to find a friend of mine and get his help," Auron answered. "You may know him. His name is Jecht."

Sora just stared at Auron as we walked through the Underworld. "Jecht?" he asked. "As in, Tidus' dead father?" I had no idea Tidus' father had died. Now I felt bad for the poor guy.

"That very one," Auron said. "He's quite the swordsman now that he's dead and has nothing to lose." Auron chuckled as if he and Jecht had some sort of inside joke about it. "He can help us save Kairi from the champion of the Underdrome. But we have to hurry. She doesn't have much time left. She's already started to fight him."

Auron led the way as we ran to find Tidus' long-lost father and save Kairi, Annabeth, and Namine.

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><p><strong><em>Roxas' PoV:<em>**

After we rested, Nico, Riku, and I started off again. We searched for our friends and a way out of the Underworld. "Ugh, how big is this place?" I asked in frustration.

"As big as it needs to be," Nico replied. "Everybody has to die, right? Dad has to make sure there's plenty of room for everyone." Nico had a point.

"Yeah," Riku said. "I guess we'll be coming back here one day. As depressing as that sounds, it's true."

We walked until we reached a large area with multiple spires protruding from the ground and giant stalactites hanging from the ceiling. I got a bad feeling about that place. "Hey, I'm not too sure about this," I said, scared out of my mind. "We should get moving."

No sooner than I said that, three figures darted past us and knocked us down. I hit my head on the cold, gray ground. It made my vision blurry, but I could still see the figures. They looked exactly alike, tall, dark-skinned men with dark eyes, short, black hair, and pointy noses. "Get up, Keyblade Masters and demigod," the middle one said. "Come here and bow before me!"

"Who are you?" I asked, pissed that this guy had the nerve to order us to bow to him. Who did he think he was? He was about to tell me who he thought he was.

"I am Ba'al," the middle one answered, "the great god that should rightfully rule the galaxy!"

"You're not a god," Riku said. "You're just a dead Goa'uld. Why don't you and your clones go back to Tartarus!"

"Insolent little brat," the two flanking Ba'als said in unison. They charged at us once again, coated in the Darkness that thrived in the Underworld. I took the middle one, Nico took the right, and Riku took the left. I drew Oathkeeper and Oblivion just in time to deflect Ba'al's hand, which had materialized a sword similar to those wielded by my friend John. The fallen System Lord sliced at me and I used Oathkeeper as a shield and Oblivion for attacking. I didn't know how Riku and Nico were faring against them, but I hoped it was better than me. It took everything I had to hold my own against Ba'al.

After fighting a while, I could tell that he was wearing down. Dead or not, he was still using energy. Ba'al was getting sloppy. He slashed downward with his sword and I smashed his wrist with Oathkeeper similar to the way I broke Riku's wrist on The World That Never Was all those years ago. Ba'al reeled back in pain and I pierced his chest with Oblivion. He convulsed on the ground in absolute agony as his body started to fade. He was being sent back to the Fields of Punishment. I turned just in time to see Nico and Riku finishing off their opponents in a similar fashion that I did.

"Whew," Nico sighed in relief. "Who was that guy?"

"He was Ba'al, a Goa'uld and former System Lord," Riku explained. I didn't know about him either since Sora was completely clueless about everything. I always thought I was the smarter half. "Those were three of the multiple clones he made of himself. He was a powerful leader and commanded many hordes of Jaffa. SG-1 from Earth took the last clone to the Tok'ra and extracted his symbiote without killing his host. Last time I checked, he had become good friends with SG-1 member, Vala mal Doran."

"Well, I hope that's the last we see of Ba'al or any other Goa'uld," I said. "Let's go before anyone else decides to pay us a visit." So we set off through the Underworld to look for our friends once again.

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><p><strong><em>Kairi's PoV:<em>**

My eyes grew wide in shock as I saw the familiar face of my opponent. The features were so familiar. Everything from the body build, to his big, spikey hair. But there was something different about him. His eyes were glowing yellow like someone controlled by the Darkness. He was also wielding a strange weapon. I think it was a Keyblade. I'd never seen it before. It was shaped like two mechanical cogs bound together by a long shaft, similar to the Bond of Flame Keyblade. It was colored red and black and had two demonic eyes in the center of each of the cogs. "Sora," I asked him, "is that you?"

He stepped from the shadows and I saw the main differences. His hair was jet-black instead of Sora's rich brown. The familiar, yet unfamiliar Sora just laughed. "Not quite," he said. He even sounded just like Sora. "I'm Vanitas. I'm the last of the Unversed and Darkness incarnate. And you, beautiful, you're gonna die!"

I raised Destiny's Embrace just in time to parry his blade. How did he get to me so fast? If I hadn't been faster, he would have stabbed me in the heart and I'd be finished! Vanitas charged at me wildly with slashes from his Keyblade. I just knew I was going to die if I didn't figure out his weakness, and fast. Vanitas charged an orange glow around his Keyblade and unleashed a deadly flourish of swipes upon me. He jumped in the air and shot an "X" shaped energy blast at me and I barely dodged it. The end of the blast cut my right leg. I didn't bleed, though. The energy was white hot and cauterized the wound. I still screamed in pain as I went sliding across the arena, scraping my body on the rocks and rough terrain as I went, those wounds causing me to bleed. I rolled over on my back and saw Vanitas looming over me. "Are you going to kill me now?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. "I've thought about torturing you for a little while. I wanna hear you scream my name in pain. I want you to watch me drink your blood." My stomach churned picturing the sick, sadistic things he wanted to do to me. "I'll kill you when I'm finished with you, Kairi. But that won't be for a long, long time." Vanitas raised his Keyblade above me and pointed the blade down. I did the one thing I could think of. I was dead anyway, so I spit at his face. I'd never hated anyone in my life, but I hated him.

The sick monster licked my saliva from his face and acted like he enjoyed the taste. "You'll regret that, Princess," he said as he plunged the Keyblade into my stomach.

"Gaaahhhh!" I screamed in pain from the blade that impaled me. I looked down to see blood pouring and squirting from the wound. It hurt so badly! I arched my back from the pain and that just drove the blade further into my body. I felt like I was dying right there. Vanitas twisted the blade inside me and ravaged my organs with the jagged Keyblade. "Sora, I love you," I said as I started to black out, losing my consciousness. I was almost dead when he pulled the blade out and cast a Curaga spell on me. My shirt was still ripped from the sword and I watched as the wound closed and didn't even leave so much as a scar on my abdomen.

"You didn't think I was going to let you die on me, did you?" he asked. Honestly, I was hoping that I would die. I didn't want to endure the torment that I was sure to be met with. "No, I'm just getting to the fun part." Yeah, fun for him. It was going to be Hell for me.

"Why are you doing this, Vanitas?" I asked. "Why don't you just kill me?" What I really meant with that was 'just let me die'.

"Because that's no fun," he said. He pulled out a dagger from his pocket and placed it at my throat. He was going to slit my jugular vein and revive me before I completely bled out and died. How could this be allowed in the rules of the Underdrome? Apparently it was because Hades didn't put a stop to it.

I started to just give up when I heard a voice call out to me. "Don't give in Kai. I know you're stronger than this," said the voice of a friend I thought I'd never see again.

She walked into the arena, her short, black hair messed up and her clothes torn from fighting, with a long slit in her shirt and a scar running from her lower chest to her stomach. Her electric blue eyes were so fierce and her bared teeth looked like razors in her mouth. She was definitely pissed.

"Thalia?" I asked. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," she said. "I heard that you, Annabeth, and Namine would be fighting in the Underdrome. Whenever they force mortals to fight, that means they are just trying to kill you. I couldn't let you three die like I did."

Vanitas stood there in shock and I took this momentary distraction to unload all my anger on the fallen Keyblade apprentice. He didn't even have time to deflect my blows. I left him broken and bleeding. There was only one more thing to do.

I stepped back from him and prepared to end him with another powerful finishing move that Sora had taught me, Ars Arcanum. A golden aura surrounded me as my Light took over my body. I was merely a spectator to the violent attack. I was unable to stop myself. I felt one of his attacks hit me, but that didn't stop me. I just kept slashing and slicing with Destiny's Embrace in a deadly flurry of blows.

When I came to my senses, Vanitas lay on the ground in a bleeding heap of amputated body parts. He was still moving and he was screaming in pain, probably because he was already dead and couldn't be killed again. His body dissolved in a puff of Darkness that smelled like sulfur. I hated to imagine where he was going. "That was so close," I said weakly as I dropped my Keyblade and collapsed, feeling weak for some reason and feeling a strange, warm sensation on my throat.

Thalia's soul caught me in her arms before I hit the ground. "Kairi!" she said as I started to lose consciousness. "Kairi, please stay awake. Don't die here, please!" I raised a weak hand and touched my neck. I looked at my hand and saw that it was completely covered in a warm, sticky liquid that matched my hair color. It seemed that Vanitas got in a lucky hit while I was killing him. I felt myself dying, losing the life-giving blood I desperately needed. I knew I only had a few seconds left if I couldn't find the strength to use Curaga. "Cur…Cura…Curag," I tried to say as I felt the life leave my body, but couldn't finish the spell. I couldn't breathe. I was choking on my blood that was spilling down into my lungs. I never thought that I would choke on my last breath. What I really wanted to do was say Sora's name one, last time, and I couldn't even do that.

I thought I was dead when I suddenly felt my wound close and my blood regenerating. I didn't know who healed me, but I was grateful to whoever it was.

I stood up and looked at who saved me. I immediately recognized him. He was tall, muscular, and very rough-looking. He had shaggy black hair, dark eyes, and enormous muscles. He had a thick, black beard and a large tattoo on his chest that was the logo of his favorite Blitzball team, the Zanarkand Abes. I hadn't seen him since he died long ago. "Jecht, is that really you?" I asked.

"Kairi," he greeted as he ran over to where Thalia and I were. "I couldn't just let you die, kid. Death really sucks, I know." He chuckled a little. Tidus was so much like him, even though Tidus would never admit it. He resents his father, mostly because he was nothing but a drunk in his life and treated Tidus and his mom like crap. But Tidus also resents him for dying. Jecht drowned eight years ago while trying to save Selphie when her boat sank between our hang-out island and the main island. He got her into his boat, but was pulled out by a strong current. They never found his body. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Jecht," I said, his Curaga spell having completely healed the wound on my neck and regenerated all my lost blood.

"Kairi," Namine squealed as she and Annabeth ran toward me, "I'm so glad you're alright!" My Nobody squeezed me as tight as she could.

"Thanks to Jecht," I said. I turned to Tidus' deceased father. "Thank you, I'd be dead if you hadn't gotten here sooner." I was truly grateful to Tidus' father for saving my life. I wasn't ready to die and leave Sora. I loved him too much!

"Don't mention it, kid," he said. No matter who it was, Jecht called all of us 'Kid.' Which, we were kids when he knew us. Most of us were ten when he died. Riku was eleven and Wakka was thirteen, but most of us were still ten.

I was startled when I heard three people break through the gates of the Underdrome. I recognized two of them immediately as Sora and Percy, but the third was someone I didn't know. He was tall, but slightly hunched over. He had short, black, hair that was spiked backward. He wore a long, red coat and only had one arm through it. The other was draped across his chest, as if he had broken it. One eye was closed and a scar ran across it. He must have been blind in that eye.

"Sora!" I screamed joyously as I ran toward him. I was so happy to see my wonderful boyfriend again! I ran to him and fell in his arms.

"Kairi," he said as he caught me, holding me with one, strong arm and running his other hand through my blood-red, now blood stained hair. "Kairi, I'm so glad you're ok! I was so afraid."

"I was too," I said. "I thought I was going to die, but Jecht and Thalia saved me." I looked and they were both still with us. "I love you so much, Sora!"

He kissed the top of my head and wiped my tears away with his fingers. "I love you too, Kai. I love you too," he repeated, adding emphasis to his words with the repetition.

Annabeth looked more than overjoyed to see Percy. "Oh my gods, Percy!" she said, sounding happier than I'd ever seen her. "Oh, Percy, I love you," she said as she ran into his arms in a similar fashion that I ran into Sora's.

He looked at her with his sea-green eyes lovingly. "I love you too, baby," he said as he held her.

Namine looked at the gate, and I knew what my Nobody was thinking. She was waiting for her Roxas, growing sadder with each passing second that he wasn't there. I was so sad for my other. She had her right arm across her stomach, her hand gripping her left arm tightly just above her elbow like she always did when she was sad. I knew what she was doing. She was digging her fingernails into her arm to keep from crying. Her plan wasn't working this time, though. Two, small tears escaped her right eye. I left Sora's embrace for the moment to go comfort Namine. "Hey, don't worry," I said as I placed my hand on her shoulder. "He'll show up soon."

She turned to me and embraced me so tightly, that I thought we were going to fuse again. "But what if he doesn't?" she asked. "What if he's dead, or dying? What if I never see him again? Kairi, I don't think I could live without him! I don't think I'd make it even if you and I joined again. I think I'd just let myself completely fade into you and let my consciousness cease to exist!" It took me a while to remember that it took a conscious effort for Namine and Roxas to continue to exist within me and Sora. If they didn't try to retain their selfhood, they would fade back into us and it would be like before Sora sacrificed his heart to release mine and created them.

"He's not dead, Namine," I said, trying to make her feel better. "I know he isn't." Truthfully, I could tell that he wasn't dead. I'd developed a special power recently. Well, maybe I always had it, being a Princess of Heart. I could sense the Light of people that I knew, no matter how far away they were. It was similar to Riku's ability to smell the Darkness of people. I could smell Roxas' light as well as Riku's, Nico's, and Jason's. I couldn't smell Artemis because she didn't have any light in her. I honestly didn't care about her, though. She could fade into Darkness for all I cared.

"I hope you're right, Kai," she said as she let go of me. "Because I'd die if anything ever happened to him." I knew that to be true, which made me wonder. How would Namine's death affect me? I knew it wouldn't be good. And how would my death affect her? I didn't dwell on that for long. I was just glad to be reunited with at least some of my friends, especially Sora.

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><p><strong><em>Jason's PoV:<em>**

I still wasn't too happy to be traveling with Diana…Artemis…whatever. I still hated her, still didn't have it in me to forgive her for this betrayal, and didn't have any intention on changing my mind. She was the enemy, no matter what. "You still hate me, don't you Jason?" she asked stupidly. What kind of question was that? Of course, I did! "I just want you to know that I plan on trying to make this up to you."

"What can you do Nobody?" I spat. "No matter what you think, nothing can change the fact that my sister, who I loved more than anything, the only family I had, is dead!"

"I know, but there may be something I can do about that," she said. "I plan to sacrifice my soul to resurrect her. I may be a Nobody, but I didn't lose my soul. Nobodies have a body and soul, the Heartless is the corrupted heart. I can still make the trade."

I froze right there where I was walking. Diana was going to be this selfless? No way, she was trying to trick me. "Nice try, Diana," I said. "I know that you won't do it. It takes someone selfless to do something like that, and I can't see a god doing that."

"You'll see, young demigod," she said soberly. "I'll take her place here in the Underworld. I will probably go to the Fields of Punishment, but I accept my fate. I know I've done enough to deserve it." I didn't argue with her on that one. I didn't care for her fate, but getting my sister back would be a dream come true.

"Let's go, Diana," I said. We need to find the others before something bad happens." And with that, we set off to find our friends.

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><p>Author's Note: So, what did you think? This will be the last PoV switch. One more Underworld chapter after this. Remember to leave a review. Author's love reviews. Thanks in advance to you all. Until next time, friends...<p> 


	7. Reunions

Author's Note: Hello again, readers. Here's chapter 7 of "Hearts of the Olympians." This is the last Underworld chapter and advances the plot closer and closer to the cilmax. There's still quite a few more chapters planned for this. It won't be as long as Shattered Hearts, but longer than "Shadow of the Slenderman." After this story is finished, I'll publish my newest work. It takes place 16 years after "A Heart Divided." But don't get too excited because it will be a while before this story is finished. I've already started work on it, and will upload multiple chapters of it at once because it will, undoubtedly, be nearly finished by the time this is done. I just thought I'd get my idea on 'paper' while I had it.

Thank you all for reading, reviewing, and bearing through my long-winded author notes. lol. Enjoy...

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><p>I was so happy to be with Annabeth again. My heart was filled with joy that she was still alive. I didn't have any doubts that she would survive, though. She was a strong young woman. "Annabeth, these last few hours without you have been the worst of my life," I said as I lost my hands in her honey-blond hair. "Let's try not to get separated like that ever again!" I didn't wait for her response before I pressed my lips against hers. I didn't care that there were thousands of souls watching us. The games were over, and Hades would dismiss them all eventually. I was just glad I had my angel back. I kissed her slowly and gently, appreciating the sweet, natural taste of her lips. My mind shut down as I held her tightly.<p>

I was enjoying the warmth of Annabeth's arms, but Sora tapped me on the shoulder and snapped me out of my trance. "Hey, we still need to find Riku, Roxas, Nico, Jason, and Artemis," he said.

I pulled away from Annabeth, going against every desire in my body, and faced Sora. "I know," I replied. We said our goodbyes to the Underdrome and went looking for our friends.

Jecht and Auron came with us, along with Thalia. It felt so great having her with us again. I had missed her so much since she died. "Thalia," I said, "I can't believe you're actually here. I didn't think I'd see you again for a very long time. I missed you so much."

"I missed you guys too," she said, smiling at me. Her electric blue eyes were just as stunningly beautiful in the afterlife as they were while she was alive. The only thing that could even give it away that she was dead was she didn't have a heartbeat or need to breathe. She also had the slash down the front of her shirt where Zeus stabbed her. I honestly didn't expect that to carry over into the afterlife, but I guess she had to wear somethng. "Elysium is great, but I'm still dead. That sucks." She laughed a little, trying to relieve the tension of the comment. "I just dread when you guys have to leave here and I can't come with you. At least I get to say a decent goodbye to you guys this time, especially Riku."

"He hasn't stopped thinking about you since you died for him," I said. "It's really sad that this had to happen. You two could have been such a great couple."

"I love him," she said. "Even still, I have the same feelings in death that I had in life. And you know what? I'd die for him again if I had to."

"We'll find Riku soon, and then you can tell him that for yourself," I said. We continued walking through the Underworld, using Kairi's sixth sense for the light in people's hearts to home in on Roxas, Jason, Nico, and Riku.

We came to a fork in the road. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as using Kai to determine which way they were because she could sense them from both sides. One was stronger so we figured that most of them were down that path. It was no problem. Auron and Jecht gladly volunteered to track whoever was down that path. They knew the Underworld like the back of their hands. They split from our company for the time being while the rest of us went down the path that promised the most of our friends. And for Namine and Thalia's sakes, I hoped Riku and Roxas were down that way.

We continued down the dark path, Annabeth holding my hand the whole way. I heard something coming from further down the path. It sounded like a man fighting for his life, and the voice sounded familiar. All of us ran toward the sound and saw someone I never thought I'd see again. Annabeth's eyes lit up when she saw him.

The gray-haired Daedalus was fighting multiple Heartless and losing. I drew the Riptide Keyblade and ran over to assist him. "Hey, need some help?" I offered.

"Percy? Is that you?" he asked in astonishment. "When did you die?"

"I'm not dead. I'll tell you everything when we finish off these Heartless," I said. With my Keyblade, they weren't really much of a problem. They weren't very powerful, just two Creeper Plants and a Rabid Dog. Daedalus had finished a few off before we arrived.

After the last Heartless fell, Annabeth ran up to us. "It's good to see you again, Daedalus," she said enthusiastically.

"Annabeth," he said. "How have you been? Have you been working out all the ideas on that laptop I gave you?"

"Yeah, I have. There are so many, though, I think it will take a lifetime to even finish half of them!" If you ever mentioned anything about inventing, architecture, or battle strategy, it would be hard to get Annabeth to ever shut up. But I didn't mind.

"It will take a lifetime, but do as many as you can. When your time comes, you can pass it down to one of your students, or even children. I take it that you and Percy are serious about each other?"

I looked down and didn't even realize I had my arm around her waist. Oh well, I wasn't embarrassed. I loved this girl more than anything. I went through the darkest parts of the Underworld for her. "Anyways," Daedalus said, "how has Mrs. O'Leary been? That was the most well-behaved Hellhound I've ever seen."

"I honestly don't know," I answered. "She didn't come with us through the inter-dimensional rift. I'm sure she's fine though."

"Yes, she always could take care of herself," he said. "Well, it was good meeting you all again. I need to get back to the Underdrome. Vanitas will be fighting Angeal Hewley tonight and I don't want to miss that. Take care," he said as he darted down the path we just came from.

I was starting to get worried about Nico, Riku, and Roxas. Kai said there was nothing to worry about as long as she could sense their Light signatures, but that didn't make me feel better. Namine and Thalia were worried too. I honestly didn't blame them. I knew Annabeth felt the same when we were separated. Things had all just gone wrong so quickly. I was frightened to think of the chaos that was undoubtedly happening in the mortal world.

I heard three guys talking from further ahead. I took a chance and called out to them. "Nico, Riku, Roxas, is that you guys?" I called.

Thankfully, it was them. Nico materialized from the dark shadows in front of me. "Percy, good to see you guys again!" he said enthusiastically.

Roxas ran over to Namine and she collapsed in his arms. "Namine, I can't believe it's you!" he gently said into her soft, platinum hair. "I missed you so much!"

"Roxas," was all she could say. She pulled him in closer and kissed him sweetly. He returned it with more passion than she had shown. "Roxas, I love you! Please don't ever leave me again. I thought you were dead!"

"I'm here, Namine. I'm not going anywhere," he reassured her. "I love you so much." The whole scene was touching, heartwarming, and beautiful.

The most emotional, however, was when Thalia walked up to Riku. "Thalia?" he asked. "Is it really you?"

She put her hands on his cheeks and looked into his emerald eyes. "Yes, it is. But I'm still dead, Riku." A tear fell from her sapphire eyes. "I just want you to know, I haven't stopped thinking of you since I first set foot in Elysium. Heaven has been Hell without you, Riku. I wish we could have had the chance to be something more!"

"Yeah," he said, obviously holding back tears of his own. "I've blamed myself for your death ever since you first jumped between me and Zeus. I promise I will avenge you Thalia!"

"She may be able to do that on her own," a familiar voice called from the Darkness. "I have arranged with Hades to trade my soul for hers." Artemis, Jason, Auron, and Jecht appeared from the corridor we had come through.

"What, Artemis?" she exclaimed, puzzled that the goddess would be so selfless as a Nobody. "Can you even do that? Do you have a soul?"

"I have a soul," she said. "Nobodies only lose their heart in the transformation. I am a body and a soul, but also a creature that was not supposed to exist." Roxas and Namine's faces hardened in resentment to that comment. I could only imagine how many times they'd been told that, being Nobodies themselves. "I'll be doing the universe a favor by dying. And also, I want to earn the forgiveness of my most cherished lieutenant."

"Artemis," Thalia said. "You can't do this. Who will lead the Hunters?"

"You will, my dear," she said. "You will become the goddess of the hunt in my absence."

"A goddess?" she wondered. I knew the thought appealed to her. "How is that possible for me to be a goddess? I'm just a demigod!"

"I chose you as my successor long ago, child," she said. "I knew that if anything were to happen to me, I would want you to take my place. I loved you like a sister, Thalia Grace. And now, it is time for me to go. Goodbye."

"Artemis," Thalia said. Both of them collapsed to the ground. As Artemis' body began to disappear, Thalia's mortal body started to reform. The color in her cheeks started to come back, her heart started beating again, and she took in a sharp, apparently painful breath as her lungs began to fill again. Her eyes shot open and she bolted straight up. Artemis was nowhere to be found. "What happened?"

"You're alive again, Thalia," Auron said, speaking up. "The goddess sacrificed herself for you. She believed she would go to the fields of punishment, but I know she really went to Elysium. Don't get yourself killed again and make her sacrifice in vain!" Auron was very stern with that comment. He was always serious, though.

"Thank you, Artemis," she whispered, not thinking anyone could hear her. I heard her perfectly. She looked up toward the sky. "You're going to pay for all you've done, father! I swear on the River Styx that you will die Zeus!" Thalia and Jason held so much resentment in their hearts for their father. I was truly afraid for their hearts. I feared they'd be taken by the Darkness. I didn't understand the whole thing about Light and Darkness in that universe. Was Darkness truly evil? Was it something that should have no place in someone's heart? Or was it just another part of the universe that coexists with light?

Thalia was alive, and that was all that mattered for now. We just needed to find a way out of the Underworld before Zeus completely took over.

We all eventually made it to an exit from the Underworld. We had to follow the River Styx for what seemed like forever, but it was worth it to finally be out of that Hell. We said our goodbyes to Auron and Jecht, and they disappeared into the shadows of the Underworld, going back to Elysium. Riku led the way up the stairs and we exited the Underworld at the Coliseum gates. What we saw deeply disturbed us.

Everything was destroyed. Heartless and lesser Nobodies were running rampant. I witnessed at least thirty people lose their hearts and become Emblem Heartless. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and I drew our Keyblades while everyone else drew their weapons. I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Annabeth, kissed her on the cheek, and we both charged into the chaos. I hacked at the Heartless, dematerializing all of them as the cold steel of _Anaklusmos_ made contact with them. In the back of my mind, I thought about how all of them were once people. I had to remind myself that Sora told me what happened to them so I wouldn't feel horrible for killing them.

Sora had said that, if a Heartless didn't create a Nobody, they would become that person again. And if they did make one, then they would go back to normal if you killed the Nobody after destroying the Heartless. If you killed the Nobody first, they would fade into Darkness forever. I was careful to take out the Heartless first.

I looked at Annabeth. She seemed to be doing fine, but was I ever wrong. A Neoshadow had her distracted and she didn't even see the Berserker Nobody coming after her. She was struck violently with its claymore-like weapon in the back and sent flying across the battlefield. "Annabeth!" I yelled as I ran toward her.

I knelt down beside her and checked to see if she was still alive. She was breathing, but it was painful for her. She had more than likely broken a few ribs from the impact. I feared for her, but was relieved when she groaned in pain. "Percy," she weakly said. "What happened to me?"

"You were hit by a Nobody," I said. "You took a pretty hard blow. You should sit this one out." I pulled out an Elixir and she drank the whole thing. She sat up, all her wounds fully healed.

"I'm fine, Seaweed-brain," she said. "I want to fight. I want to set everything right and save mom!" She still believed that we could save our parents. Honestly, my faith in that was pretty thin. I was preparing myself to kill dad. I had no problem killing Ares, Zeus, or Dionysus. It was going to be hard, heartbreaking even.

She rejoined the fight, keeping a watch on all sides this time. Her strategy senses kicked in and she was mowing down Neoshadows, Dusks, Rabid Dogs, Air Pirates, and Sorcerers like a madwoman. She was so beautiful when she was in "angry war mode." It was a side of the family that Athena's demigod children didn't show very much. Athena was a goddess of war, but they primarily associated themselves with the wisdom aspect of her personality.

Kairi and Sora were back to back, fighting off hordes of Dusks. They were doing fine all by themselves, same for Roxas and Namine. Namine's aim had greatly improved since she got her guns. I was afraid, however, that she'd run out of ammo soon. I knew Roxas would take care of her, though. He loved her as much as Sora loved Kairi. It made me wonder if their love was only because Sora loved Kairi, but then I saw the way he looked at her. That love was real.

The most touching, however, was Thalia with Riku. She was a goddess now, but that didn't change her feelings toward Riku. They fought closely to each other, keeping watch over the other's blind spots. Well, Thalia had less to worry about now that she had full immortality. She'd never die unless killed by a being of equal power, but Riku was still mortal. He unleashed flurries from Way to the Dawn on countless Heartless. He and Sora were truly veterans when it came to fighting them. They had seen their fair share of battles.

Thalia had two swords, replacing the hunting knives that she usually had. They were long, serrated, and deadly sharp. They cut through the Neoshadows and Samurai Nobodies like they were merely air. Her azurite eyes burned with a beautiful ferocity. She was full of bloodlust for the Heartless and Nobodies. Each vanquished enemy was one step closer to Zeus. She had turned toward hating her father for all the horrible things he'd done, the monster he'd become. She didn't blame him for her death since she willingly sacrificed herself, but she hated him for trying to hurt me and Riku. I knew one thing for sure, though. Thalia and Jason were completely different people than they were before.

The swarm of monsters had finally been defeated and we checked the area for survivors. We found a few people who hadn't lost their hearts or lives. Many people had become the Heartless we fought, and others had been killed in the chaos. Olympus was reduced to rubble in a matter of hours and it would take years for the citizens to make everything right again.

"I can't believe this happened," Kai whimpered as she put her arm around Sora's waist. "All those people…"

"I know, Kai," Annabeth replied. "This is so horrible. I still can't get over the fact that my mom is partially to blame for this." Her gray eyes looked less fierce than they usually did. They had a new emotion, sadness. I hugged her from behind and, without saying anything, let her know that I was there for her. I loved Annabeth so much. She turned in my arms. "Percy, what do you think is going to happen? How can we just kill our parents?"

"I don't know, baby," I said lovingly, but also darkly. I didn't know if we'd even live to see the next day. I knew one thing, though. Zeus would be unstoppable as long as he had the Blade of Olympus. I had to figure out a way to get it away from him. That sword had all the power of the Olympians held within it. Things were going to get a whole lot worse before they ever got better.

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><p>Author's Note: How did you like it? Remember to drop a review to tell me what you thought about it. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, read, and favorited this story. Also, this story has almost reached 1000 hits :D. Remember to check out my fanfiction friends' works: Dragginninja, Maisuki-Chan, Master'sEnd, and eolhcsullivan452. They are all great authors and are very talented at the styles they write. Next story to be updated will probably be "A Heart Divided," which is reaching its conclusion. Until next time, friends...<p> 


	8. A Shattered Heart

Author's Note: Hello again. Here's the eighth chapter of "Hearts of the Olympians." Hope you guys enjoy it. It also has the introduction of John from "Shattered Hearts." Enjoy, friends...

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><p>We boarded the Highwind after helping the civilians find the rest of the survivors, which weren't that many at all. I sat next to Annabeth and held her tightly. Roxas was doing the same with Namine, as was Sora with Kairi and Riku with Thalia. I thought Thalia's glow from when she was a Hunter was beautiful, but the glow she possessed now that she was a full-fledged goddess was beyond words.<p>

Nico and Jason were asleep on the seats across from Riku and Thalia. I was surprised we didn't run into Bianca in the Underworld. Deep down, I really wanted to see her again. It took forever to forgive myself for her death. I promised Nico that I'd keep her safe. The poor guy was only ten at the time and he lost the only family he had left. Bianca was only twelve. She was, in my mind, far too young to have had to die. But I guess that's what happens when you're a half-blood. It was once a rare occasion to even live past sixteen. Even now, with our great numbers and the threat of Kronos defeated, people still died. They left the camp on quests and never returned. Monsters would even sometimes bring what was left of their mangled remains to the border of Camp Half-Blood as an insult. It hurt so much to see that happen. A lot of them were friends of mine. I tried to get to know as many of the campers as I could, being a cabin director and all. Funny, I was a cabin director, but as far as I knew, I was Poseidon's only demigod child and therefore didn't have anyone to be in command over. I didn't mind, though. I had the whole cabin to myself. Well, unless Tyson came to visit. It was great seeing my Cyclops brother every now and then. Thinking about him made me miss him even more. I wondered if he'd been turned into a Heartless. He probably wasn't. Tyson was a lot stronger than that.

"Where are we going, Sora?" I asked. I was truly getting tired with this whole thing. I wanted it all to be over! A part of me prayed that this was just a dream, that I'd wake up in my bunk at Camp Half-Blood and Tyson would be in the bottom bunk. Grover and Annabeth would come charging in my room and wake me up and everything would be alright. But I knew this was real. My dad was really evil and my Earth was completely destroyed. We had to stop our parents and the Heartless before this was all damaged beyond repair.

"Radiant Garden," Sora replied. "We're meeting someone there."

"Who?" I asked curiously.

"Our old friend, John," Sora said. "He should be able to help us out. He has power over Darkness, Fire, Air, and Time. Mostly, his powers are centered on Darkness and Time manipulation."

"Sounds powerful," I said. "But why are we asking for help from a Darkness user? Isn't he one of the people we should be fighting?"

"It's not whether you're a Light wielder or Darkness wielder. What matters is how you use it. Riku uses both Darkness and Light. Roxas used Light even when he was with Organization XIII."

That whole time, I had thought Darkness was evil, something that should be destroyed. I thought the whole Light and Darkness thing was a Good vs. Evil thing. Instead, it was a Yin & Yang deal. I had been so afraid of the Darkness, but for all I knew, it would have made me stronger. I still preferred Light.

Sora finished his checkup on the controls and soon fell asleep in his chair. I understood how tired he was. I was about to drop into a dead sleep. I kissed the top of Annabeth's head and took in a deep breath. Her hair didn't smell like it usually did. It had the smell of sweat and dirt from fighting. It was also very greasy and tatted. It hit me just then that none of us had taken a shower in gods know how long. I probably smelled like a Minotaur's butt. Annabeth stirred awake in my arms and looked up at me. "Hey, I'm going to look for a shower on this thing," I said. We had packed extra clothes for the trip, so I had something to change into.

"Ok," she said. "If there is a shower, show me where it is so I can take one too." I stood up and Annabeth lay down and took up both seats. She was so beautiful when she was sleeping. She was beautiful any time. Aphrodite had nothing on her, and that's really saying something. I'd met the Goddess of Love before. She was beautiful, but Annabeth was even more beautiful. Annabeth was real and natural, where Aphrodite was covered in makeup, perfume, and other artificial things. I hadn't seen Annabeth wear makeup since we were thirteen. It was when we were in the Sea of Monsters and were held prisoner on Circe's Island. That crazy woman turned me into a freakin' guinea pig! I was eating nothing but lettuce and croutons for a week after we got back home. Not to mention that drive I had to run around in a small wheel.

I quietly left the bridge of the Highwind and started walking through the hallways, looking for a shower. After nearly half an hour, I finally found it. I went to the luggage compartment and fished out a change of clothes from my suitcase and went back to the shower room.

The hot water running down my body felt so great. It had been so long since I'd even been near water that wouldn't seriously mess me up. The Rivers of the Underworld were lethal each in their own right. I'd been in the Styx, been near Lethe, but not the others. I thought I was going to die when I bathed in the Styx to get invincibility. I didn't even want to think about Phlegethon, Cocytus, or Acheron. Nico had called Hellfire from Phlegethon at Camp Half-Blood and destroyed the skeleton soldiers that had infiltrated the camp. That was when he found out about Bianca's death and when I found out that he was the son of Hades.

Before I stepped out of the shower, I used my demigod power to make myself dry. That was an advantage of being Poseidon's son. I didn't get wet unless I wanted to. I realized quickly that the roles were reversed in this universe, though. Before, it took conscious thought to stay wet. Here, I had to concentrate so I'd stay dry. I wanted to go home so baldy.

I got dressed and started walking back to the bridge, feeling refreshed and smelling way better than before. I ran into Jason in the hallway. "Hey Jason, what are you doing awake?" I asked.

"I'm starving and I was going to the kitchen," he said. He sounded like he had something on his mind.

"Hey, you ok man?" I asked.

"Honestly, not really," he said.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

At first, I thought he was going to say no, but then he sighed and unloaded the burden that was on his heart. "It's about Piper. I've been missing her so much since Thalia, Nico, and I came through the Rift. I tried to get her to come with us, but she said she wanted to stay and try to fight those monsters. What are they called, Heartless? Anyway, I've just been thinking about her a lot lately. Like, what if she's turned into a Heartless? What if she's dead or seriously hurt and wondering when I'll be back?"

"I'm sure she's fine, Jason," I reassured. "Piper is a tough girl and she can take care of herself." Piper McLean was Jason's longtime girlfriend. They met when the two of them came to Camp Half-Blood a couple of years ago, Jason being a transfer camper from the supposed Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood since Zeus was in his Jupiter form when he was conceived as opposed to being himself when he got their mom pregnant with Thalia. Piper was the daughter of actor Tristan McLean and Aphrodite. Out of all the daughters of Aphrodite, she was the most beautiful. She and Silena were absolutely the second and third most beautiful girls on the planet, behind Annabeth of course. Piper more so than Silena, but Silena was beautiful as well. Piper was like Annabeth, minimal makeup and natural look. Silena had been like her mother with all the makeup, fancy clothes, sweet perfume, and constantly changing her hair. It had been dark brown, black, and blond on multiple occasions. Thinking about Silena Beauregard hurt a little. She was, at the time, the only daughter of Aphrodite that I actually liked. She wasn't stuck up and snobby like the others. She was truly a great friend. Sure, she may have been Kronos' spy, but she gave her life trying to make up for that mistake and Drew, the new cabin leader that came after Silena died, was the only person who ever brought it up. And that was only until Piper put her in her place and took over by defending Silena's honor. The only reason she betrayed us it in the first place was because Luke promised her that less people would get hurt that way. That was a lie and a half, and she figured that out after Beckendorf, who was the absolute love of her life, died on the Princess Andromeda. More people ended up dying, including Silena herself. The second Titan War was the bloodiest tragedy that I'd ever had the misfortune to be a part of. "She may be in stasis like all the other survivors of destroyed worlds. If not, then she's probably somewhere in this universe."

"Yeah, you're right," he said. "Thanks Percy."

"Don't mention it, Jason," I said. He left and ran down the hall to the kitchen. I was a little hungry myself. I would join Jason after I showed Annabeth to the showers.

I walked silently back to the bridge. Namine was still asleep next to Roxas, but Kairi, Nico, and Thalia were awake. Thalia was absently running her fingers through Riku's shaggy, silver hair. She truly loved him. I could see it in her eyes. Even as an immortal goddess, she still retained the feelings of her demigod life. I somehow knew what she was thinking. She was looking down eternity and imagining the pain of never seeing him again. In a million years, he'd be in Elysium while she's still alive and watching over hunters everywhere. Her expression said more than her words ever could have. She looked back up at me and tried to smile. I could see the pain in my cousin's eyes. I thought she was going to say something, but she didn't. She just went back to admiring the man she had once given her life for.

"Annabeth, wake up," I said, shaking her shoulder a little. "I found the showers."

Her gray eyes fluttered open. "Percy, five more minutes." She was just too adorable for words. I kissed her lips softly and they curled up into a smile.

"I love you, Annabeth," I said. I didn't get a response, though. She was already asleep again. I decided to go to the training room at the back of the ship and beat around on a punching bag or something.

I made my way to the training room and picked up one of the wooden Keyblades hanging from the wall. It was shaped like Oblivion, Roxas' dark Keyblade that represented Sora's memories of Riku. These wooden Keyblades had metal weights in the center of them so they felt like the real thing, but were a lot safer to spar with. I pushed a button and computer-generated Nobodies appeared in front of me. Three Dusks, two Creepers, and a Sorcerer were simulated and ready for a practice session.

I swung the fake Oblivion at the holograms, which were programmed using some technology I'd never seen before that made them partially solid. The Creepers and Dusks vanished as soon as the blade made contact with their heads. The Sorcerer was tougher to kill. He summoned many translucent blocks and would attack and defend himself with them. I dodged when he made a club out of them and took advantage of that moment to attack. He disappeared after I connected a few lucky hits and I was alone again, panting and sweating. I willed the sweat to roll off my body and I was dry again. I was tired, to say the least. We still had about an hour until we would reach Radiant Garden so I decided to take a nap. I went back to the bridge and sat next to Annabeth. I wrapped my arms around her and fell asleep next to my wonderful girlfriend. I had no dreams.

"Percy, wake up," a voice said while I was asleep. I opened my eyes and saw Kairi hovering over me. "We're at Radiant Garden. John is waiting for us at Merlin's house."

"Merlin, as in, the wizard," I asked.

"Yeah, like King Arthur's Merlin," she replied. "You know of him?"

"He's a legend where I'm from. In my universe, nobody knows if he was real," I said.

"The Merlin of our galaxy, as well as the one from the Milky Way, is very real here. Hurry up or we'll leave without you. We won't be using the beaming technology. Merlin has a Ring Platform behind his house."

I didn't understand what she meant by Ring Platform, but I followed Kai to the back of the ship. I saw a round marking on the floor that looked like the Stargates without the Chevrons. Everybody was standing in the center tightly packed together. Kairi and I squeezed into the outer edge of it. "Ok, make sure you keep your hands and feet inside the ring at all times. Whatever is outside the rings, you'll lose." That didn't make me feel better. She pushed a combination of buttons on the wall and quickly pulled her hand back in. Before I knew it, four mini-Stargates appeared in front of us, I saw a blinding beam of light, and when the light faded, we were on the surface of Radiant Garden and the Rings went into the ground. It was so cool.

We walked inside the magician's home and it looked just like one would imagine. Books of sorcery and alchemy were scattered, some half-opened, all over the place. Beakers of potions and mixtures were boiling and candles were lit across the room. There was a large computer and an old man with blond hair was sitting on a chair in front of it. He put his cigarette out, only to light another in its place. Whoever this guy was, he must have been a chainsmoker.

"Hey Cid," Sora greeted, "where's Merlin?"

"Sora, how've ya been?" he said. He had a think southern accent, almost like Larry the Cable Guy. "You're lookin' for that loony wizard? He's at the Bailey with Leon, I mean Squall. He don't go by Leon anymore. He should be back in a few minutes. Sit down and make yourselves comfortable." We took seats at the few chairs and couch that were scattered across the room. "I know Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine, but who's your other friends?"

"These are Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo, Jason Grace, and Thalia Grace," Sora said, pointing to each of us as he introduced us. "They're from the other side of that inter-dimensional Rift that appeared not too long ago. They're the children of their universe's gods. Jason and Thalia's father is Zeus, Percy's is Poseidon, Annabeth's mother is Athena, and Nico's father is Hades."

"Pleasure to meet ya," Cid said. He seemed like a gruff person at first, but I could tell he had a good heart.

A few minutes later, two men came through the door. One was a younger man, about 28 years old. He had long, brown hair, enigmatic blue eyes and was about six feet tall. He had a strange sword in his hand. The blade looked normal, but the handle had a trigger and the barrel of a revolver attached to it. The other was an old man. He looked like he was in his mid-seventies at best. His long, white beard trailed down to the ground and he wore a light-blue robe. He had small, round glasses and carried a wand. I could only assume this was Merlin and the other man was Squall. "Well hello, friends," Merlin said. Merlin turned to look at me and my friends. "You must be the demigods."

"Yes sir, I'm…"

"I already know who you are, Perseus," he said, interrupting me. "I've been watching this situation, as has John. He's been watching you all as well."

"Then why hasn't he done anything to help us yet?" Annabeth asked. "Why just watch us?"

"Because when I travel through time, I have a strict 'no interference' policy," a slightly deep voice called from behind us. He had a slight country accent, but nowhere near what Cid had. We turned to him. He was wearing a long, black trenchcoat with the hood up. I couldn't see his face. He also had black gloves, black pants, and black combat boots. "I had to come back to the present so I could help you." He pulled down his hood to show us his face. He had reddish-amber eyes and long, jet-black hair that came down about an inch or two past his shoulders. I could feel the Darkness radiating from him, but I didn't feel threatened. This guy wasn't going to kill us. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm John, a special variety of Nobody. My heart was shattered to pieces. I still have slight emotions, but no real heart to speak of. I'm a watcher, a time traveler."

"Good to meet you," I said as I walked over and shook his hand.

"It's great to see you all. Especially you, Roxas," John said.

"Yeah, it's been way too long, man," Roxas replied.

"Nearly four years in your time, I think," John replied. "But down to business. I think I may know of a way to destroy the Olympians. Since they've become Nobodies, they no longer have their godhood so they can be killed by mortals. But as long as Zeus carries the Blade of Olympus, none of us will stand a chance. You found that out the hard way, didn't you Miss Grace? Or should I say Goddess of the Hunt?" John had manners, I gave him that.

"Don't remind me," Thalia said. "That was only the single worst experience I've ever had. Dying sucks!"

"I know. I've been at death's door many times," John said. "The only reason I'm still standing here is because I can reverse time. It's saved my life, as well as Riku's, many times. Riku had been eaten by a Heartless once and I turned back time to save him before it killed him again." Kairi looked at Riku, her expression puzzled. She was probably wondering why he never told her about that. "But as I was saying…We need to get the Blade of Olympus away from him before we'll ever stand a chance. Anything else would be suicide."

"But how will we get it?" Namine asked. "He keeps it with him at all times."

"Leave that to me, Namine," he said. "I have the best chance at this."

"If you can travel through time, why don't you just go back and prevent him from ever using it in the first place?" Annabeth asked.

"Because if I do that, I'll screw up the timeline, wise girl," he said, using her nickname. I wondered how he knew it, but I guess he's been watching us. "You'd probably even end up with Xehanort killing Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine if I did that. And that would be super bad!"

"So what's the plan?" I asked. I had no idea how this would all turn out, but I had the worst feeling about it. I couldn't explain it, but I couldn't help thinking some of us might not be coming back from this.

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><p>Author's Note: How did you like it? Remember to review if you did, and give constructive criticism. Thank you for all of you that read this and got it over 1,200 hits :D. Until next time, friends...<p> 


	9. A Nobody's Calling

Author's Note: Here's the next installment of "Hearts of the Olympians." This may be a shorter chapter than usual, but a lot goes down and I hope that makes up for it. Enjoy, friends...

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><p>John patiently told us his plan. He'd go into the Olympian's stronghold. Roxas would be going along with him while the rest of us waited in the Highwind in low orbit around whatever world they were occupying, cloaked, with Sora and Kairi arming the weapons in case something went wrong. After Roxas and John secured the Blade of Olympus, we'd all beam into their throne room and engage them on more equal terms. That was the plan, anyway.<p>

Annabeth and I decided to take a walk through the streets of Radiant Garden. It was a beautiful place. The architecture looked like an old village with modern elements. There were little things that would pop up every now and then. Squall said they were called Claymores and were the town's auto-defense system. They wouldn't attack us. They were programed to only attack Heartless and Nobodies. Roxas, Namine, and John were exceptions to that, of course.

We made it to the Bailey, a little area that overlooked the town and had a great view of a castle in the distance. We saw that John was there, leaning against the wall and looking out at nothing in particular. He looked like he was thinking deeply about things. He knew exactly how this was going to pan out, or at least had a good idea. The future here could always change, and no one knew that better than a time traveler. "Percy, Annabeth, what brings you two here?" he said, finally noticing us.

"Just taking a walk," I said. "Hey, is something on your mind? I'd like to help if I can."

"I was just thinking about things. You know, things I wish I could change," he said.

"But you can change them, John," Annabeth said. "Your fears are probably unfounded."

John seemed highly offended by that. "You think you know everything, daughter of Athena? You don't know anything," he yelled. Annabeth recoiled in fear from the venom, but John didn't relent. "There are so many things I want to change, but I know they'd ruin everything! I'm sure Roxas and Riku have told you about Xion, right?" Annabeth nodded. "She was my friend too, and watching her die was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I loved her!"

"John, leave Annabeth…"

"Shut up, Percy," he said. "As soon as I saw her die, I wanted to go back, stop Roxas from killing her, and make everything like it used to be: Axel, Roxas, Xion, and I sitting together in Twilight Town, eating Sea-Salt ice cream and not caring about the future, forgetting that we were Nobodies. But if I were to do that, that one little thing, Sora would have never woken up. He'd still be in Twilight Town and in a coma. Xion held the remnants of his memories that Namine messed up and she had to die so he could come back. Organization XIII would have taken over, hunted and killed Riku and Kairi, and eventually killed me. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

I thought Annabeth was going to cry and I wanted to punch John out for lighting into her like that, but he was making sense. "Annabeth, I'm so sorry," John said apologetically. He was truly sincere too. "I didn't mean it. It's just that this is a touchy subject for me and I let my emotions get in the way sometimes. Please forgive me, Annabeth."

Annabeth wiped a few stray tears from her eyes. John tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she knocked it away and took off running back to Merlin's house. "Percy, I'm sorry about that. It's just that I have so many regrets about not being able to alter the past."

"I understand John," I said. "Annabeth just gets single-minded about things lately. I think her hubris is getting worse."

I was always afraid Annabeth's deadly pride would be the end of her. They didn't call them fatal for nothing. If we didn't keep our fatal flaws in check, it would kill us. And I couldn't stand the thought of Annabeth dying. I took it hard enough when Thalia died. If any of the Olympians killed Annabeth during our fight against them, I'd make them suffer a fate worse than the Fields of Punishment. Zeus already had it coming for killing Thalia. She was going to mess him up bad. Jason…Jason was going to be even worse on him.

"Maybe we should head back and make sure she's safe," John said. I nodded and we started to head back to the house. I stopped, however, when I felt a chilling and familiar presence behind me.

"Percy Jackson," a cold, familiar voice called out to me. "It's been a while."

"Hades," I turned around to see the Nobody of Nico's father. "What are you doing here?"

"I just thought I'd take care of you and John before your little plan can even start." How did he know about that plan? Had he been watching us all along? "When I'm through with you, you'll be spending eternity in the Fields of Punishment, regardless of all the good you've done in your life."

The God of Death charged at me and John with a four-foot-long Stygian Iron sword similar to Nico's. I drew _Anaklusmos_ and John materialized two long, blue energy swords. I started to sweat from the intense heat radiating from the blades. I wondered how he could hold them since they were so hot, but I guessed his gloves were insulated.

Hades slashed at me and I parried it with my Keyblade. I lunged inside his guard and tried to stab his chest, but Hades was too fast. He avoided it easily and tripped me. Riptide clattered to the ground as my body slid on the cold, hard cobblestone ground. I rolled away as Hades stabbed downward, cutting my arm a little. I ignored the small flesh wound and called my Keyblade back to my hand. John combined his blades at the ends of the handles into a dual-bladed weapon. He was very graceful with it. Years of practice must have come in handy. I'd never seen anyone fight like that. He spun and swung the weapon at Hades and gave him the fight of his existence. I joined in and put the odds more in our favor. I jumped over Hades and struck him in the back with the teeth of Riptide and he screamed in pain. John took advantage of this. He started to speed up. I figured he was slowing down time for the rest of us, but he looked like he was moving fast. He unloaded a flurry of blows on Hades and the great god of the Underworld fell to his knees.

"No, this can't be…my…end!" Hades said as a cloud of Dark tendrils enveloped him. "No!" he called out as he faded from existence. With Hades death, that was one Olympian down and ten more to go. I was glad Annabeth took off when she did, otherwise she would have risked dying. She was already an emotional wreck from John's berating. She would have been distracted and gotten herself killed by Nico's dad…her great uncle. Wow, we had the most screwed up family ever. Our parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles trying to kill us…that's messed up even by demigod standards.

"With Hades K.I.A, that will throw the Olympians into even more suspicion. My plan's chances at success have just been shot dead," John said.

"Don't worry, we'll think of something else," I said. "Let's head back to Merlin's and tell everyone what happened. And, John, don't worry about Annabeth. She's a forgiving person." He smiled and gave me a friendly punch on the arm.

"Yeah, let's go."

When we got back to Merlin's house, there were more people than there were before. There was a beautiful woman with long, dark-brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a leather vest, black shorts, and a leather skirt around the shorts. There was another girl with short, black hair. She was wearing a navy shirt with white flowers on it, navy shorts, and thigh-high socks and navy shoes. She looked like a ninja, sort of. A man with spikey blond hair wearing a black shirt and pants was standing in the corner with his arms crossed, eyes closed, and a look that suggested he was deep in thought.

There was also a very tall, very beautiful woman standing across from the blond guy. She had spikey dark-brown hair and piercing green eyes. She was darkly tanned and her body was very toned, similar to Annabeth's. Her eyes, despite her apparent young age, seemed ancient. It was like she had lived through a lot, and the things she went through made her stronger. She walked over to us. "Hello, you must be Percy," she said. She spoke with an Australian accent. "I'm Oerba Yun Fang, but you can just call me Fang. We were all wondering where you and John had gotten off to. Annabeth here said you were right behind her, but you never showed up. What took you so long?"

"It's nice to meet you Fang," I said. "We ran into a little problem that may cause a snag in John's plans."

I explained the situation, the battle with Hades, and how the Olympians will get suspicious when Hades doesn't return. I looked to see Nico standing alone in the corner, his arms crossed and looking at the floor. It had to be hard to hear that John and I had killed his dad.

"This won't be good," Sora said. "That kills all our chances of getting in and out undetected."

"I can still go in alone and use my powers over time, if I need to. I just pray none of them know the spell Esuna," John said.

"What does Esuna do?" I asked.

"It cancels out all spells cast on someone. You see, when I slow down time, I'm really either casting Slow on everyone else, or Hastega on myself. Esuna cancels all of them out," John said. "The Organization's number II, Xigbar, used it against me in Halloween Town once and I almost died. That's when I stopped relying on it so much."

"I think the only ones that would know any magic other than their usual elemental magic are mom and Apollo," Annabeth said, apparently having forgiven John for his outburst. "But mom is an honorable warrior. She would never, even as a Nobody, resort to such a dirty tactic." I smiled at the fact that Annabeth still had faith in Athena. Maybe my blond angel could do it. Maybe at least Athena could be saved. I wasn't counting on it, though. I took her hand and looked into her eyes lovingly. I saw so much pain. I hadn't seen that special variety of hurt in her eyes since Luke died. "I love you Percy."

"I love you too, Annabeth," I said. I just continued to look at her while she turned back to John and the two of them discussed strategies. It was all Greek to me…well actually, I could understand Greek better than I could read English, but that's beside the point.

After we were finished running through the new plans, we all went to a hotel in the town. A kind, wealthy duck named Scrooge owned it and he let us stay there for free. He knew Sora and said that he owed him for saving his businesses across the worlds. He gave us the keys to our rooms and took off. "Where's he going?" I asked Riku.

"He's probably going to help some homeless kids," he said. "He started doing that a few years ago when he met a little blond homeless girl. She couldn't have been older than seven at the time. She's probably around nine now. Scrooge has a kind heart, really. He's down-to-earth for a multi-billionaire."

I smiled at the thought of him helping homeless people. I'd seen far too many in New York and not been able to do anything about it. It broke my heart. There were a few I helped, though. They were demigods whose human parents had either abandoned them, or had died.

I was sharing a room with Sora and Riku. Annabeth and Thalia shared a room, Namine and Kairi shared a room, and Nico, Roxas, and Jason shared another room. Sora got one bed, Riku got the other, and I would sleep on the couch. It was still more comfortable than the bed I slept on while mom and I lived with Gabe. Things were so much better with Paul. We had a steady flow of income, unlike with Gabe. But more importantly, there was actually love in my household for once. He loved mom and she loved him. He was truly the best dad I ever had. I still loved Poseidon for the fact that he was my biological father. And I had no doubt that he loved me. Triton and Amphitrite didn't like me, but that was understandable. Triton probably saw me as competition for dad's love, and Amphitrite didn't like me because I was Poseidon's illegitimate with another woman.

I stared at the ceiling, not thinking about anything in particular. "Percy, you ok?" Riku asked.

"Huh, oh yeah, I'm fine," I answered.

"Just making sure," he said. "You kind of spaced out there for a while. Is a lot on your mind?"

"Yeah, but I'm used to stress," I said. Sora didn't join the conversation since he was out cold. He slept like a rock.

"Oh yeah, the Titan War," Riku said. "Thalia explained it to me in detail. She said a lot of your friends died. I'm sorry about that, man."

"It's ok," I replied. "They all died as heroes. I'm proud that I got to fight alongside them. I miss them a lot, though." Beckendorf, Silena, Luke, and Michael all ran through my mind. Sure, Silena and Luke had betrayed us, but in the end they died as heroes. That betrayal was cancelled out by their selfless sacrifices.

"I'd say you do," Riku said. "I can't say I've lost friends fighting, but Xion was an acquaintance. Since she looked so much like Kairi, it was hard watching her die. It felt like I was watching Kairi die. But I knew and even she knew that she had to so Sora could wake up."

"Sorry about that, Riku," I said. "And I can only imagine how it was for Roxas."

"Yeah, he loved her," he said. "John loved her too, but never would have tried to take her away from Roxas. John was hiding in the bushes when she died. And he was watching from the rooftops when I kidnapped Roxas on The World That Never Was. That man has seen so much in his life."

"Yeah," I replied. "How old is John? He seems so much older than the rest of us."

"He's physically only around twenty-three, but he's lived through a lot. He doesn't age when he's in another timeline, only when he's in his native time. He really should be about thirty, but like I said, he doesn't age normally. And Fang may appear to only be twenty-one, but in reality, she's over five hundred years old. She's spent the past few centuries frozen in a crystal. When she finally woke up, it was a major culture shock, but she's adjusting quite well," Riku explained.

"That explains why they both appear to be so much more mature and wiser than the rest of us," I said thoughtfully. I couldn't imagine living for five hundred years, crystal or not. I had been offered to become a god before, but turned it down because I wanted a mortal life with Annabeth. Sure, being a god meant I wouldn't die, but I would rather live out my days with Annabeth and be with her in Elysium than to live an eternity on Olympus without her. And I was glad I chose mortality. Otherwise, I would have probably ended up like dad.

I drifted off to sleep, yet another dreamless one. I was happy to not have the gloomy, prophetic dreams I always had before. I was really going to need this sleep for the coming weeks.

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><p>Author's Note: So, how did you like it? I tried to get this finished today because I'm going on vacation tomorrow and won't be back until Friday. I wouldn't have had internet access all day tomorrow. With Hades and Artemis gone, that just leaves Zeus, Hera, Dionysus, Apollo, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Hermes, and Hephaestus. Also, that reference to Xigbar using Esuna on John was a scene I started writing for "Shattered Hearts: The Lost Year." That scene was to be chapter one and I got most of it finished before getting distracted with everything else. I may finish it in the future, though. And I'm sure those of you who have read "A Heart Divided" know who that nine-year-old blond girl that Riku mentioned is XD. Remember to leave a review, check out my other stories if you liked this one, and check out my friends' stories. Until next time, friends...<p>

P.S. Happy Fouth of July to all my readers in the US.


	10. The Cave of Wonders

Author's Note: Hey guys. First off, I'm so sorry for making you all wait this long for a new chapter. But I had severe writer's block for the past few weeks and didn't get over it until just the other day. Here's the long-awaited tenth chapter of Hearts of the Olympians. Enjoy...

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><p>I woke up the next day to see Riku and Sora were already awake. Riku was pouring a cup of coffee and Sora was flipping through the channels on the TV. "Hey guys," I said groggily. I definitely didn't want to wake up, but I also couldn't get back to sleep. "What time is it?"<p>

"Almost noon," Sora said. I was shocked that I slept in so late. "Don't feel bad, the girls, Nico, and Jason are still in bed too."

"You guys have any new information on the gods?" I asked.

"No, but John is looking into it. He sent us a message earlier that said he had their hideout narrowed down to three worlds: Agrabah, Atlantica, or the ruins of The World that Never Was. He thinks that it is the World that Never Was. It was the stronghold of the Organization years ago," Riku said. "It was where Sora, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and I defeated Xemnas, Xigbar, Saix, and Luxord. It was the place we finally put an end to Organization XIII."

"So let's go there now," I said.

"It's not that simple, Percy," Riku said. "We need to make sure they aren't on those other worlds first. First we're checking out Agrabah. I'll go wake the others." Riku walked out of the room and down the hall toward our friends' rooms. I had a bad feeling about this trip to Agrabah, but I didn't tell Sora that.

"So, what's this Agrabah place like?" I asked.

"It's hot, that's pretty much it. The world is a perpetual desert with the city of Agrabah being the only populated area and the Cave of Wonders is about five miles to the south of the town. As far as architecture, the place is similar to ancient Middle-Eastern areas of Earth. My best guess is that the Ancients sent a group of them there thousands of years ago just before they ascended. It's too bad they never got to put Stargates in this galaxy. We'd never have to use Gummi Ships," Sora explained.

Riku arrived back at the room a few minutes later. "Hey guys, we're all ready to leave for Agrabah," he said.

We followed him back out to Merlin's house where Fang, Squall, John, the dark-haired girl with the brown eyes, and the blond guy with blue eyes were waiting for us. John joined our group in the middle of Merlin's ring platform. "Do you guys want us to come along?" Squall asked. "Cloud, Fang, Tifa, and I don't mind coming with you if you need us."

"We're sure we don't need more help than we already have. Thanks anyway," Sora said. They had topped off Namine's ammunition supply, so she was good for now as far as bullets and C4 explosive went. They'd also taken the time to pack extra supplies for us. Squall thought of everything.

Kairi pressed the same button combination on Merlin's wall as she did on the Highwind. Once again, multiple rings appeared from the ground and surrounded us before a bright light took us to our ship.

We appeared on board the Highwind instantly. I didn't know how all that Ring technology worked, but it was awesome. We all walked to the bridge and Kairi set a course for Agrabah. "We'll be there in about ten minutes, so don't get too comfortable Percy," she said as I sat down. Just as she said, we were there before I even knew it. "Ok, we're here."

Kairi pushed a button and we all were beamed to the surface. Ok, I'll say it plainly. Agrabah was hot! I mean, I felt like my brain was melting inside my skull. The sun beat down on my black hair and made it so much worse. It was also so bright that I couldn't see until my eyes adjusted. "Oh my gods, it's hot!" I exclaimed.

"It's a desert planet," John replied. "This is actually a cool day compared to all the other times I've been here." John's face took a dark expression. His eyebrows pulled together and his face twisted into a pained frown.

"Are you ok?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm fine," he replied. "This world is where I first met Xion a few years ago, that's all."

"I'm sorry," she replied.

"It's alright, Annabeth. She had to die so Sora could wake up from the sleep Namine put him under," he said. I could tell in my heart that John still had the same feelings for Xion that he had when they met. It was written all over his face. "Let's just go ahead. Genie and Aladdin should know something if a god is here."

We walked through the streets of Agrabah. Peddlers and merchants were constantly trying to sell things to us. Annabeth almost bought a beautiful, purple outfit, but decided she'd come back later for it if she still wanted it. We eventually made it through the maze of alleys and streets. We found ourselves in front of a large palace. "Here we are," John said as we walked up to the enormous doors. "This is the palace that Aladdin lives in."

The doors slowly opened and two people were standing to greet us. The man had short, shaggy black hair and dark-brown eyes. He was well-built and had dark skin. He was wearing white baggy pants with patches all over them and an unbuttoned purple vest. The girl standing next to him was holding his hand. She was incredibly beautiful. She had long black hair and dark eyes. She was wearing blue baggy pants and a blue top that showed her stomach. There was also something special about her. I felt the same way around her as I did around Kairi. "Sora, John, it's good to see all of you and your friends again," the man said.

"Aladdin," Sora greeted, "how have you been?"

"I've been alright. Life in the palace with Jasmine is great," he said.

"Sorry I didn't make it to your wedding, you two," Sora said apologetically. Apparently the two of them were married.

"It's ok Sora," the girl, who I assumed was Jasmine, said, chuckling. "Please, come in, all of you." She motioned the guards that were behind them to let us through.

The palace was amazing on the inside, and the temperature was surprisingly cooler. The décor was all the best of Middle-Eastern architecture and I could tell that Annabeth was in paradise. She wasn't just a fan of Greek architecture. She loved all of it. I grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes so she'd calm down. I laughed because she seemed like she was about to explode. We made it to the main throne room. There was a short, pudgy man sitting on the throne with an enormous turban on his head. His clothes were tan in color and he had an extremely long, white beard. He was too busy tinkering with a little toy to notice us, so Aladdin led us to a secret door to the right of the room. We entered into a dark spiral staircase. It was considerably colder due to lack of light. We descended for what felt like hours until we finally reached the bottom. "This is where Genie's been monitoring the mysterious, magical presence that landed here a few days ago," Aladdin said as he opened another secret door.

"Magical presence…a god must be here," I said. "Do you have any idea what kind of magic it is?"

"It seems to have something to do with the sun. The temperature has been colder and the sun is shrinking," he replied. "I don't know what could be doing this. You said something about a god?"

"Yeah, the gods from my universe have been turned into Nobodies and are trying to take over the universe. We've been chasing them across two galaxies for a long time. The god that is here must be Apollo. He has power over the sun. We'll take care of him and get your world back to normal," I said.

"Thank you," he said. "What's your name again?"

"Percy Jackson," I replied. "Do you have any idea where Apollo might be?"

"The strongest source of magic on this world is at the heart of the Cave of Wonders. It's just a few miles outside the city walls. My magic carpet can take a few of you there, but not all of you. Who's going to fight Apollo?"

"I'll go," John said. "And Sora, Roxas, Percy, and Annabeth can come with me."

"Ok," Aladdin said. A large, blue man appeared next to us. "Genie, can you teleport them to the city walls so Carpet can take them to the Cave of Wonders?"

"You got it, Al," Genie answered. He snapped his fingers and I was instantly standing in front of the gate to the city. Annabeth, John, Sora, and Roxas were standing next to me in the blistering heat. A purple carpet with very intricate gold designs flew down and landed at our feet. I took that as a cue to sit down on it, and everyone else took a seat next to me.

The carpet suddenly took flight and I nearly fell off once or twice. The wind in my face cooled me off somewhat, but it was still hot. I held Annabeth's hand tightly as we darted across the blazing desert toward a large valley with clouds of Darkness surrounding it.

The carpet set down in the middle of the crater right in front of a large, dog-like head made of sand. Its mouth was opened and an orange glow was softly radiating from its throat. John stepped forward first, followed by Sora and Roxas. Annabeth looked at me, her iron-colored eyes showing me that she had a bad feeling about all of this. She knew that the Nobody of Apollo would have to be extremely powerful. "Percy, I love you," she said, and I could tell that she was saying it like it would be her last chance to. "I love you so much more than you'll ever know."

"I love you too Annabeth," I said gently as I gave her a quick kiss on her soft lips. "We'd better get going before they run off without us."

She nodded in agreement and grabbed my hand. Our fingers laced as we stepped through the open mouth of the monster. It closed its mouth behind us, cutting off our only exit. It looked like there was no turning back, so we pressed forward. Both of us caught up with John, Roxas, and Sora. I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind, but I never thought to ask. "Hey, Roxas, if you didn't have a Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony performed on you, how do you use a Keyblade?" I asked.

"My right-handed Keyblade is Sora's Keyblade," he replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was seriously confused.

"It's his Keyblade existing in two places at once. Don't ask me how that's possible, but it is. Maybe it's because, in every sense, Sora and I are really the same person. And by that logic, Namine should be able to use Kairi's Keyblade if she wanted to. My other Keyblade is the one Xion used while she was alive and passed on to me when she died. It's Ventus' Keyblade."

"Oh," I said. That did absolutely nothing to make me less confused. But hey, some things just can't be explained I guess. After walking through endless corridors and mazes, we finally came to a dead end. There was a large wall in front of us with a keyhole. "Hey, I'll take care of this one," I said as I raised Riptide to the lock. A beam of light shot from the tip into the blackness of the keyhole, and then I heard a distinct clicking sound. The door suddenly opened, revealing a large, empty room. It was lighted by three crystals hanging from the ceiling.

What really caught my eye, though, was the person standing in the middle of the room. The blond-haired, blue-eyed sun god was facing us. The look on his face was the most twisted, hateful glare I'd ever seen. And I was on the receiving end of it. He had his fire bow pointed toward my heart. Flames danced across the bow and the arrow he was going to use to kill and incinerate me. I slowly raised _Anaklusmos_ to be ready to defend myself. John drew his energy swords, Annabeth raised her dagger, and Sora and Roxas drew their Keyblades. Sora was using his blue Ultima Weapon and Roxas was using the usual Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "Apollo, you know you don't have to fight us. I thought we were friends," I called out.

"Things change, Percy," he said dryly. "I was hoping Thalia would be here. You know, since she is the direct cause of my sister's death after all. I wanted to make her pay for that."

"Thalia isn't responsible for Artemis' death. Artemis sacrificed herself to bring Thalia back to life. It isn't her fault," Annabeth pleaded. "Please, you can change just like she did. Come back to the Light, Apollo. Do it for Artemis!"

"Shut up, Wise Girl," he said, pointing his bow toward her. I motioned in front of her, prepared to defend her. Riptide could deflect his arrows, but Annabeth's dagger wouldn't. "My sister is dead because of Zeus' daughter! I'll kill all of you, and then I'll find the rest and kill them."

"You guys are the most unorganized group of Nobodies I've ever seen," Roxas said mockingly. "Organization XIII was so much better than you. You're spread to thinly across the galaxy. I was never alone when I was a part of them. I always had backup. You guys, you're pathetic, really."

Apollo couldn't take any more of Roxas' berating. He tugged back on his arrow and launched it toward Roxas' head. He quickly raised Oblivion and deflected it, but Apollo darted toward us at light speed. He took his bow and slammed it across Roxas' stomach. Sora's Nobody collapsed to the ground and almost threw up. I ran over to Roxas and deflected Apollo's sword before he could take Roxas' head off. I took Apollo on the front, Sora took his left, Annabeth took the right, and John went after him from behind. He was lightning fast, so he could keep up with all four of us. Roxas was still recovering from the million-mile-an-hour blow to the gut. He more than likely had ruptured something. John cast a Cura spell his way. Roxas tried to catch his breath as the spell repaired whatever was injured. He'd probably be out for the rest of the battle, though.

Suddenly, Apollo pulled a trick I'd never seen before. He caused a blinding light to envelop us. When I opened my eyes, I was alone with him on a stained-glass platform in the middle of a black abyss. It was just me and him, one on one. He coated his blade with fire and charged me. Our swords clashed violently and the sound rang out throughout the Darkness. The only light was coming from his sword and the platform. He was fast, but I could keep up with him now. Transporting us to this place must have taken a lot of power. He was getting weak. I took the opportunity to step inside his guard. I slashed his stomach with Riptide and he froze right where he stood. "No," he struggled to say. "This isn't the way I thought I'd go. I'm sorry, Percy. I realize now…that…nevermind. Tell Will that I'm proud of him after this is all said and done. And if anyone should take my place…ahh…I wanted it to…be him. Tell everyone I'm sorry. And I hope Nobodies have an afterlife. I want to see Artemis again…goodbye." Darkness enveloped Apollo as he faded from existence like Hades had, but he was more peaceful. I wondered what he meant when he told me that little bit about Will Solace. Did he want Will to be the new sun god? That thought was cut off when I was transported back to Agrabah.

"Percy," Annabeth said. "Where did you go? You disappeared for a few seconds." She wrapped her arms around me tightly. "And where's Apollo?"

"I destroyed him," I said. "Taking me away like that really drained him. But he should have known that's what would happen."

"Maybe he wanted to die," John said. "Nobodies aren't inherently evil. We choose our path just as anyone else. Maybe he realized that he was fighting on the wrong side and wanted to help us end all of this insanity."

"Maybe," I said soberly. I didn't tell them about what he said concerning Will. I'd save that for when we got back to our own universe. I wanted to go back home so badly. We had a long and hard road ahead of us, and I had a feeling that the other gods wouldn't give in as easily as Apollo had.

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><p>Author's Note: So, what do you think? Was it worth the wait? Once again, I apologize for making you guys wait soooo long. I'll try to get these quicker. Next update may be Her Scars. If not, then it will be Regrets. Both chapters are at the same level of completion, which is about 9%. lol. Remember to check out my friends' stories. Truthlieslovestars, formerly known as Master'sEnd, is currently working on the last chapter of "Of Sea-Salt Icecream, Love, and College." I really recommend that story. And eolhcsullivan452 is working on the final arc of her story "Stand There and Watch Me Burn." Two amazing stories are coming to an end. I really recommend them if you haven't read them already. Also, if you like this, check out my story "Light and Dark." It takes place 16 years after "A Heart Divided" and follows my OC's, Yami, Hikari, and John. It might be the last appearance of John, but probably won't be the last story in the "Hearts" series. Until next time, friends...<p> 


	11. Port Royal

Author's Note: Hey, here's the new chapter of Hearts of the Olympians. We're nearing the climax of the story and growing ever closer to the final battle. Hope you guys enjoy it...

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><p>We left Agrabah and headed through space toward our next destination, Atlantica. It was an aquatic planet, so I was looking forward to that. I hadn't seen a decent amount of water in a long time, and there wasn't any on Agrabah. It would be refreshing being around my normal habitat again. Though, everyone else didn't seem to like the fact that we'd have to go underwater. We'd fight whatever god had taken over on that planet and be on our way to The World That Never Was. Well, I hoped it was that easy anyway.<p>

The Highwind was traveling at faster-than-light speed when suddenly it dropped out in the middle of space. "What's going on?" I asked.

I was ignored for a few minutes as Kairi checked the controls. "I don't know. There's no reason we should have dropped out of hyperspace," she said. She started to speak again, but the whole ship shook violently as if it made impact with something. "We're under attack!" she exclaimed.

"What's attacking us?" Nico asked as we were struck again. Alarms sounded and red lights started flashing.

"We're losing our shields," Riku said as he kept a watchful eye on the monitors. "There's a huge power spike right in front of us where the fire is coming from."

I looked out the window to see what had ambushed us. Two figures were riding chariots in the distance. I recognized them as Aphrodite and Dionysus. Dionysus was the one attacking. He sent balls of Darkness toward the Highwind and caused further damage to our ship. "We won't take much more of this," Kairi shouted.

"It's two of the Olympians," I said, trying to keep from falling as the balls of Darkness collided with our ship. "Aphrodite and Dionysus are trying to kill us."

Sora tightened his grip on the controls as he disengaged the auto-pilot and took over. Kairi stepped aside as John took the co-pilot seat. "Hold on guys," Sora said as he pulled up and we changed course. He was going to try and maneuver away from their firing range so Riku and Roxas could charge up the weapons. Sora flew skillfully as Roxas shot toward the goddess of love. The energy beam clipped the wheel of her chariot and she was sent downward. Another, fired by Riku, barely missed Dionysus. One more hit, and Aphrodite would be toast, but the god of wine was a far better pilot than Aphrodite.

Riku unleashed another payload onto Aphrodite's chariot and made contact. She didn't stand a chance of surviving it. The beautiful goddess of beauty and love was instantly destroyed by the laser. When the blast cleared, Aphrodite was gone. I looked over to Annabeth and her expression was grim. I saw it written all over her face that she hated watching the gods die. We were fighting the very beings that, not even a month before, we used to worship.

"She's dead," Nico said, confirming the kill. It was handy that he could sense when people connected to him died, but also depressing at the same time. If he was still alive, then he would sense when Annabeth and I died. I assumed he would be alive because something seemed different about him. I got the same, new feeling that I got around Thalia. I wondered…"Yes, I'm the new god of the Underworld," he said, reading my mind. "Dad told me while I was helping him with the Hellhounds the day of the Heartless Invasion that he was proud of me and wanted to make me his heir in case something happened to him."

That answered my question, but the victory hadn't been completely won yet. We still had Dionysus to worry about. He was becoming even fiercer with his attacks. At this rate, we would be destroyed in a few hits.

Sora tried a tricky maneuver with the Highwind. "Riku, Roxas, get ready to fire on my mark," he called out to his best friend and Nobody. He waited a while until we were directly over Dionysus and upside-down. "Wait…wait…now!" he yelled as Riku and Roxas unloaded the weapons upon Dionysus' chariot. He went down and landed on another world. "He's at Port Royal."

"Send us down Sor," Kai said as she walked over to him. She gave him a look that said she had a bad feeling about it.

Sora complied, seeing the worry in Kairi's eyes. "Ok, Port Royal it is," he said as we slowly descended to the planet's surface.

The town looked like an old British sea port. It had cobblestone streets and large wooden buildings. It was nighttime on the planet and the full moon was very beautiful. I could feel my power over the sea become stronger in the presence of the full moon and the vast ocean behind us. We didn't see any people at all since it was so late.

"Do you have any idea where exactly he would have landed?" I asked Sora.

"He should be right here. This makes no sense," Sora said.

Suddenly, vines started to erupt from the ground and wrap around our ankles. We all struggled to get free, but they overtook our whole bodies quickly. I made one, last struggle to escape, but blacked out from lack of oxygen just as I saw Dionysus walk toward us with an evil grin on his face.

When I regained consciousness, I was in a dark, damp cave, hanging from vines wrapped around my wrists. I looked around and could barely make out Annabeth's silhouette hanging to my left and Roxas to my right. Across the room were multiple other figures hanging by their wrists, but I couldn't tell who they were. I assumed it was everyone else. My head was pounding and I felt the pressure from my weight on my wrists. I couldn't believe we'd been ambushed like that. At least I knew Annabeth was alright. She was still out, but I could see that she was still alive. Dionysus entered the room and walked to the center. "Percy Jackson, did you think you could just destroy me, simple as that?" he stated rhetorically.

He slowly headed toward Annabeth and started to grab her chin. "Don't you dare touch her!" I yelled. "If you lay a finger on her I swear on the Styx I'll rip you apart!"

Dionysus walked over to me and punched me in the gut. "You're in no position to be making threats, boy," he said. I coughed and tried to catch my breath. He hit me pretty hard near my diaphragm. "I'll leave you all a little longer while I claim this world as my own. Farewell Perseus." He stormed out and kicked someone—probably Riku—in the shin as he left.

Annabeth slowly regained consciousness. "Percy…where are we?" she asked groggily.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said. "Dionysus captured us and is holding us prisoner here. He just left and said he'd be back after he took over this world."

"We can't let him do that," she said. "Percy, I have an idea." Our feet were free, so Annabeth kicked off her shoes and socks. She grabbed a small rock from the ground between her toes and flipped herself upside down. I knew Annabeth was a very athletic girl, but I had no idea she could do something like that. She tried to cut through the vines that were around her wrists. It took a few minutes, but she managed to cut through them. Her dagger, Thalia's knives, Nico's sword, Jason's coin, and Namine's guns were on a table beside us. Dionysus couldn't take away mine, Riku's, Kairi's, Sora's, and Roxas' Keyblades and John's swords, but they weren't much use to us with our hands tied up. She grabbed her knife and cut my bonds. She then went on to untie everyone else and give Namine, Nico, Jason, and Thalia their weapons back.

I grabbed Annabeth and gave her a quick kiss. "You're the best baby," I said. "I love you."

"Love you too Percy," she said as we ran out of the cave and were met by none other than Dionysus.

"You didn't think I'd let you escape so easily, did you?" he asked. "Heartless, attack them!"

We all drew our weapons as waves of Heartless came toward us. They were mostly Creeper Plants that popped up around us. He also summoned a new variety that wasn't in Jiminy's Journal. They resembled Satyrs and were brown in color. The Heartless emblem was on their chests and they carried long black staves. They were difficult to slay, but everyone else could handle them. I nodded at Nico and both of us charged Dionysus. We jumped over Creeper Plants as we went. Dionysus raised his sword and deflected our every blow. He tried to cover us with vines, but Nico and I slashed all of them away. Nico covered his sword with Darkness and I covered Riptide with Light. Dionysus didn't stand a chance against us. I got an idea at that moment. "Nico, toss me your sword," I called out. He complied and gave me his Stygian Iron sword. I concentrated on whatever magic this universe infused me with. I willed the two swords to connect at the pommels and was soon wielding a dual-bladed Keyblade/Stygian Iron sword hybrid coated in a beautiful combination of Light and Darkness. I could feel it existing in harmony and discord all at the same time. I knew it wouldn't stay like that long, though. I had to hurry and take Dionysus down before they destroyed each other. I unleashed a devastating flurry of slashes at the god of wine and he couldn't deflect every one of them. I landed a few lucky hits and he collapsed to the ground. His vines disappeared and I saw Namine put a bullet in the final Satyr's forehead.

"You will pay for this Percy Jackson," Dionysus said as he started to fade. "Zeus will have no mercy on you, demigods!" Dionysus faded from existence. Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hades, Artemis, and Apollo had all faded away and left us with just dad, Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena, Hermes, and Hephaestus. I had a feeling that the final battles were going to rival even the Titan War.

As soon as I let my guard down, I turned to see Annabeth just as a Neoshadow Heartless slashed her in the back. "No, Annabeth," I screamed as she collapsed to the ground. I detached Nico's sword from my Keyblade and hurled Riptide toward the Heartless with a Strike Raid attack. It disappeared in a cloud of Darkness as I ran to my wounded girlfriend.

I picked her up in my arms and everyone else crowded around us. "Percy…what's happening to me?" she choked out through her pain. I pulled her up to see her wound. She was bleeding pretty badly and the cuts were infused with Darkness.

"She's losing her heart," Riku stated. "Neoshadows can cause you to lose your heart with just a single wound. If we don't do something fast, Annabeth will become a Heartless and possibly a Nobody."

I died a little inside when he said she was becoming a Heartless. "What can we do for her?" I asked.

"I can do something," Kairi said. "Annabeth, this will hurt a little, but I can stop the process from advancing. It won't reverse what's happening, but it will keep you from losing your heart." Kairi closed her eyes and placed her right hand on Annabeth's chest just above her left breast; right where her heart was located. She muttered words that I didn't understand. It was some sort of spell or prayer or something. Annabeth gripped my hand tightly from the pain, but kept from screaming or crying. I could tell it was so painful, though.

"That should do it," Kairi said. She stood up and Annabeth opened her eyes again. Her gray eyes now had a slight golden ring around the edges of her irises. It wasn't noticeable unless you looked for it, but it was there. "I've locked away the Darkness that was corrupting you, but you'll carry it for the rest of your life."

"Kai, how did you do that?" I asked.

"It's because I'm a Princess of Heart. I have special Light magic that only we can use," she said.

"Thank you so much," Annabeth said as she stood up to hug Kairi. The two of them had gotten to be close friends since we arrived in Kairi's universe. They were almost like best friends. "I was so afraid I would fade into Darkness."

"It's no problem," Kai said. "I couldn't just let you turn into a Heartless."

We made our way back to the Highwind and tried our hardest to relax as we departed from Port Royal and toward our final destination, The World That Never Was. I couldn't help but think that something bad was going to happen there. It was just a weird feeling I got. I tried to shrug it off as leftover stress from what happened to Annabeth, but it just wouldn't go away.

I was lying on my bunk in my quarters, trying to take a nap while we dashed through hyperspace. I was almost asleep when Annabeth climbed up to me and lied down beside me. She faced away from me, grabbed my arm, and wrapped it around her waist. She was lying against me. "I love you Percy," she said. I could hear a few tears in her voice as she said it. She was obviously reaching her breaking point. I didn't know how much more of all this she could take. Annabeth was the strongest girl I knew, but she was only human. This kind of pressure would be enough to give a god a stroke.

"I love you too Annabeth," I said.

"Can I stay here until we get to the Nobodies' stronghold? And will you please hold me?" she asked. And I couldn't refuse. She needed me and I loved her more than anything. I would protect her to my dying breath. And even then, I'd try and find a way fight for her in the afterlife. I loved her.

"Of course you can," I replied. She turned to face me and kissed me. For the first time in a long time, I got to kiss her the way I loved to. It was passionate, full of love, and so sweet. Our lips fit perfectly together, like we were made for each other. I just couldn't stop myself from pulling her even closer to me.

She fell asleep in my arms and I tried to sleep as well. I had a feeling that it would be the last restful sleep I'd ever get until this was all over. It still blew my mind to think of how quickly things had gone to Tartarus. One minute, we were celebrating my eighteenth birthday at Camp Half-Blood, and the next, we were fighting for our lives as Earth was being ripped apart by a Darkside Heartless. I just couldn't wait until we defeated the gods and brought everything back to normal. Oh, who was I kidding? Things would never be normal again. Our lives were screwed up forever. We had to kill our parents or they would destroy everything! I wished I could go to The Fates and beg them to change the past.

Some good things came out of this, though. If it never would have happened, we would have never met Sora, Riku, Kairi, John, Namine, or Roxas. They had been such amazing friends during out time with them. But even so, I still wanted to get home. I missed Grover, Tyson, Juniper, Chiron, Mrs. O'Leary, and my parents. I even missed Clarisse a little. Jason was probably dying inside because of Piper. He didn't know if she was alive, dead, a Heartless, or in stasis. I truly felt sorry for him. At least I had my Annabeth with me. All I could do was promise him that we would set things right and he would see her and Leo again. Those three had the same bond that I shared with Grover and Annabeth. He wouldn't be able to survive without them. I enjoyed that last bit of restful sleep. When I woke up again, I would face the rest of the gods on The World That Never Was.

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><p>Author's Note: How did you like it? I decided to get rid of two gods in this chapter. Partly because there aren't many other ways to have Aphrodite fight. I imagine she wouldn't be very good at hand-to-hand combat. I've been blocked for this story for a couple of days. Most of this was written today. Next updates are Her Scars and Light and Dark. I'm also working on a new fanfic for a group on deviantArt dedicated to the crack pairing of Aqua from Kingdom Hearts and Vergil from Devil May Cry. It seems pretty out-there, but trust me, it's a lot better than it sounds. I hope to help bring that pairing into the spotlight. The story will be finished soon and I'll post it on deviantArt and here simultaneously. Until next time, friends...<p> 


	12. Betrayal

Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait again. We're drawing closer to the conclusion of Hearts of the Olympians. Two more chapters then an epilogue that takes place an unspecified time afterwards. Could be days, weeks, months, or even years past the final chapter. Next update after this will be Creeping Death, then Light and Dark, then Her Scars, etc...

Enjoy friends...

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><p>The alarm went off and woke me from my dreamless sleep. Annabeth stirred in my arms as she was awakened. It was so strange seeing the gold that lined her gray eyes. It reminded me of how close I'd come to losing her. "Percy, what's going on?" she asked groggily.<p>

"I don't know," I replied. I had a feeling I knew what it was, though.

We heard a knock on the door. "Percy, come on," Roxas said. "We're at The World That Never Was. It's time to end this."

His statement could be taken a number of ways, only a handful of which I found appealing. We could end it and go back home safely, or it could be the end of us and the end of reality as we knew it. I was really hoping for the former, but The Fates could be cruel women if they wanted to be.

Annabeth got up and I followed her. After changing into different clothes—an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans for Annabeth and a black t-shirt and dark jeans for myself—we walked to the bridge of the Highwind and joined our friends for our last stand against the Olympians. I didn't know what to expect at The World That Never Was, but I wasn't expecting anything good. We looked out the window to see the planet. It was larger than any other world I'd seen in this universe. There were ruins of a large castle in the center of the sprawling, half-destroyed city. "What happened to this place?" I asked.

Riku walked up beside me. "We nearly destroyed it in the early stages of our fight against Xemnas, before the fight was taken directly into Kingdom Hearts. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I got separated from Kairi and King Mickey. And after we thought we finished Xemnas off, Sora and I were separated from them again and were forced to fight him alone. This is the aftermath of the battle before going into Kingdom Hearts and the Realm of Nothingness," Riku explained. The place looked like it had been nuked. I couldn't even imagine what that battle had been like.

Sora set the cloak on the ship and we beamed down to a dark alley some distance from the castle. The area was desolate at first, but then we soon found that we weren't alone. Numerous Shadow Heartless surrounded us as soon as we stepped out of the alley. They were no problem, though. We easily dispatched them as we pressed on silently through the night. It was so dark because there was no moon. Without the artificial Kingdom Hearts to illuminate the Nobody world, it was pitch-black. Kairi held her left hand out with a Light-based spell enveloping her fist, allowing us to see where we were going.

We ended up in the middle of a large town square surrounded by multiple buildings and a single skyscraper in the back. It was easily the second-tallest thing on the planet, rivaled only by the ruins of the Castle. Annabeth caught up to me and stood beside me as I came to a stop. "Are you thinking the same thing I am?" she asked.

"Yeah, I miss home so much," I said. "This makes me think about New York."

"The sooner we stop our parents, the sooner we get to go back," she said. "If we take them down, our Earth will be restored, right?"

"It should, and the Rift should close," Sora said. "The destruction of Earth was a direct result of their turning into Nobodies, so whatever they did should be undone when Zeus is destroyed. At least, that's how it was when I defeated Xehanort's Heartless."

I hoped for Sora to be right. I wanted to return to my own universe so badly and to see my family again. I could tell Sora and the others wanted to go home too. After this was over, Roxas and Namine could go back into Sora and Kairi. I had no idea where John would go, though. He never talked about having any kind of home at all. I felt bad for him, really.

We all stood in the center of the square and stared at the Castle That Never Was in the distance. The stark-white spires rose up, half-destroyed, almost to the clouds. I breathed deeply and exhaled slowly. "Let's get this over with, then," I said.

We had almost reached the bridge that led up to the Castle, which floated above a giant blue crater, when I felt uneasy. I turned and looked back to see that Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, and Hera standing behind us with weapons drawn. I don't think I'd ever seen Hermes with a sword before, but he looked strange carrying it. "This is as far as you go, children," Athena said. "We cannot allow you to advance any further."

"Mom, please," Annabeth pleaded. "Turn back to the Light. You're the goddess of wisdom, but you're acting like a fool. I'm begging you, please, stop this insanity!"

The gods didn't respond to her desperate cries. They simply charged toward us and attacked with full force. We split up and fought them in groups. Kairi, Annabeth, and I went for Hephaestus, Sora, Riku, Nico, and Roxas challenged Hermes, Athena fled the battlefield, and Jason, John, and Thalia were left to fight Hera. Annabeth and Kairi slashed at Hephaestus, but he dodged their attacks. I took a shot at him with my Keyblade while he was distracted and came down hard on his shoulder with the teeth. He roared in pain and shot fireballs at us. The three of us rolled out of the way just in time. I felt the heat from the flames singe my hair. Kairi threw Destiny's Embrace toward Hephaestus with a Blizzaga Raid attack and froze his arm. As soon as she caught her Keyblade I tossed _Anaklusmos_ to her, somehow knowing she'd be able to use it. Kairi dual-wielded the Keyblades with a beautiful gracefulness that proved, once and for all time, that she was a true Keyblade Master.

Hephaestus fell just like the other gods before him. "Aphrodite, I am coming," he said as he faded into oblivion. He would join his wife in the fires of the Underworld.

We turned to see that the others had all but destroyed Hera and Hermes. Hera was lying on the ground, barely holding on to existence while Hermes had already vanished. Annabeth approached the goddess that had pissed her off on a number of occasions. Hera looked at her with sad eyes, expecting pity apparently. Annabeth's face twisted into a disgusted grimace and she crushed the goddess' skull under her right foot. I was shocked to see her newfound brutality as Hera's remains vanished, not even leaving the golden blood that had splattered.

"Annabeth, what was that?" I asked. She turned to me and I saw gold had become more prominent in her eyes, but it quickly receded as she looked at me.

"I…I don't know," she said. "I didn't want to do that, but something inside me forced me to."

"It was your Darkness," Sora said. "I can be that same exact way sometimes. Those feelings will never go away. You and I are both infected by pure Darkness, and it can come out in very ugly ways sometimes."

Annabeth looked deeply disturbed at the brutal act of murder she'd just committed. "I'm…actually not sorry," she said. That seemed to disturb her even more. "Look, let's just go on and find Zeus, mom, Ares, and Poseidon. John can steal the Blade of Olympus and we can finish them off and go home where we belong."

I took her right hand in mine and looked into her beautiful eyes. I didn't say a word, but she knew exactly what message I was getting across. I was telling her that I loved her.

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><p>We navigated the maze that was the Nobody stronghold with great difficulty. Roxas tried to remember the way, but it had been so long and the area was so destroyed that it didn't even resemble the castle he knew from his time with Organization XIII. We came to a dead end in a large, empty room. It was a platform above a deep, dark pit. There were balconies around it, but the exit was sealed by fallen debris.<p>

"Roxas, I have a bad feeling about this," John said.

"Yeah, maybe we should go back," Namine agreed.

"Ok, I'll try to find another way," he said, but before we could leave, Athena materialized in front of us.

She appeared to be unarmed and looked as if she were holding back tears. I knew it was just a ruse, however. Nobodies didn't have hearts, therefore, they didn't have emotions. She was faking it and doing a very good job.

"Please allow me to offer my sincerest apologies and surrender to you," she said.

"Yeah, right," I spat. "This is just another trick."

"No Percy. I think she's telling the truth," Annabeth said. "Mom is the goddess of war, so she should know when to fight and when to surrender. She's not stupid. She saw how we defeated gods far more powerful than she is. And Artemis changed, so why can't mom?"

I looked her in the eyes. "I still don't trust her," I said. "Something just doesn't seem right about this." I shot another glimpse at Athena. Her hands were visible at her side, though her right hand seemed slightly open, but I figured she had just let her fingers relax.

"Just let me go," my beautiful girlfriend said. "I want to talk to my mom."

"Ok, but be careful," I said. I shifted over to the side so I would see both from a side view.

Annabeth walked over to Athena. The goddess reached out her hands as if to embrace her daughter. Annabeth mirrored her actions as they closed the distance between them. But that was when things went tragically wrong.

As Annabeth reached Athena, the goddess shifted her right hand and in front of her, thrust it forward, and Annabeth's lower chest practically exploded. Blood oozed out of two wounds, one on her chest and the other on her back. "No," I screamed as Athena's celestial bronze sword appeared, impaling Annabeth and revealing where the wound came from.

Annabeth's eyes opened wide, and then contracted in pain and tears. She had been both physically and emotionally destroyed by her mother's betrayal. She used the last of her strength to raise her dagger and bring it down into her mother's chest. Athena screamed in pain as she disappeared and her sword along with her. Annabeth collapsed to the ground and I ran over to her. "Please Annabeth, don't do this to me! You can't die, do you hear me? Please, you can't die!" I begged as I picked up her limp, bleeding figure.

"Percy…I…love y…you," she choked out as her life slowly drained out of her.

"Somebody heal her!" I screamed at my friends.

John placed his hand on my shoulder. "It's too late for that. None of us know strong enough magic to help. Her diaphragm has been split. Even if any of us healed her, she'd still die of suffocation from not being able to breathe," John said.

"Don't worry…about it…Seaweed Brain," she said, using that cute nickname one last time. "Goodbye and…don't forget…I'll love you for eternity." Annabeth closed her eyes and used the last of the oxygen in her lungs to take her final breath. She died in my arms.

"No…" I said softly. I buried my face in her golden hair and cried.

I looked back up for a moment and saw John staring at me with sympathy. "I promised myself I'd never do this again," he said. "But I'm about to break that promise one more time. I swore Riku would be the last I saved." He placed his hand on my shoulder and whispered a short incantation. I felt strange and saw the events of the last five minutes go by in reverse. He let go of me as we materialized in the moment we saw Athena.

Annabeth started to walk toward her mom, but I grabbed her arm. "No, it's a trap," I said. "She's using magic to conceal the sword she's holding in her right hand. Look closely."

I pointed to Athena's hand and the two of us saw the faint trace of movement from her sword. Nothing was ever 100% invisible, and now that Annabeth saw the outline of the sword, she was hurt and betrayed by her mother's blatant deception. "Give me Riptide," she said.

"What," I asked in disbelief. She was actually asking for my Keyblade?

"Just do it, I know I can use it," she said.

I looked at Sora and he nodded. I summoned my Keyblade and handed it to Annabeth. She was able to use it without it coming back to my hands. It must have been her strength of heart that allowed her to wield. A few more weeks here, and she may have been able to use her very own Keyblade.

Annabeth charged toward her mother with an aura of Light surrounding her and Athena didn't even have time to block the attack as the sharp blade of Riptide came down on her left shoulder and sliced her in half. For the second time, I watched Athena die, but this time, Annabeth survived. She dismissed my Keyblade and fell to her knees. I ran over to comfort her, but she stood up before I could reach her. "No more second chances," she said. "I won't rest until every single one of the gods are dead!" She had a fierce tone to her voice that, if it hadn't scared me, would have been so attractive. Almost turning into a Heartless and her mother's betrayal turned Annabeth Darker than I could have ever imagined. I was almost afraid for her, but I knew she could keep herself in check. Annabeth was a strong-willed young woman, and I had all faith in her. I hugged her tightly from behind and she turned in my arms. I kissed her passionately, thankful that John had turned back time so her life could be spared.

I pulled away for a moment. "Oh baby, I thought I'd lost you," I said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

I looked over to John and he shook his head, signaling that I shouldn't tell her. "Oh, nothing," I lied. "I just thought you'd fall for her trick, you know, because she's your mom and you never thought she would lie to you."

"I almost did, but you saved my life, and I love you so much. Thank you," she said.

"I love you too," I replied. The deception these Nobodies were capable of frightened me. I wondered if I would fall to the same fate by my father's hands. I honestly didn't know if I could tell if he was lying to me or telling the truth. We'd all find out soon in the hard battles to come.

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><p>Author's Note: Woo hoo, Keyblade-wielding Annabeth! Her heart is strong enough to where I believe she'd be able to use a Keyblade just like Percy. She just doesn't have her own. The area Annabeth fought Athena is supposed to be the Hall of Empty Melodies from Kingdom Hearts 2 where you fight Xigbar. I imagined that, if the world is even still around, The World That Never Was would be practically in ruins, so the area was pretty destroyed. I thought it would be nice that even though John yelled at Annabeth for being insensitive to his feelings of turning back time, he still turned back time to save her life. I try to make him a kind and forgiving individual. The guy has lots of issues that I haven't even covered in fanfics yet. I have many many stories in my mind that could involve him, but haven't written them down yet. There's still almost a whole year between chapters 16 and 17 of Shattered Hearts that hasn't been explored yet. But all will come in due time.<p>

Thank you for reading and reviewing. Until next time friends...


	13. Proof of Existence: Hall of the Nobodies

Author's Note: Sorry for the late update and short chapter. I originally planned for this chapter to continue until the final battle, but I'll save that for the next and add a chapter to what I had planned. Hope you enjoy...

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><p>After stumbling through debris and getting lost multiple times, we came to a large door. I could feel the Darkness radiating from it. "I sense the Blade of Olympus behind this door," Nico said.<p>

"Is it guarded?" I asked.

"I don't know," Nico replied. "Something just doesn't feel right about this. I'm not sensing anything but the Blade, but I can't imagine Zeus leaving it unguarded. This seems like a trap to me."

"Well, maybe there's another way we can find out," I said.

"Let me handle this," John said. He closed his blood-red eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, the powerful Nobody disappeared before our eyes. "Now I should be able to get through there undetected. Here Sora, take this." John handed Sora a small device that looked like a walkie-talkie. "I'll keep you guys updated on what I see."

I heard his footsteps draw closer to the door. Moments later, the door creaked open and closed slowly. "This room is enormous," John said when he was on the other side.

I leaned to the microphone. "How is your communication device invisible?" I asked.

"It's in my ear behind my hair and I can make what I wear invisible," he answered as if it were the most obvious question ever asked. "Otherwise, you'd see my coat too."

"Oh," I said.

"Anyway, this place has to be the largest room in the castle," he said. "Nobody emblems are all over the walls and it's a long hall with portraits of the fourteen original members of Organization XIII. Odd numbers are on the left and even are on the right starting with Xemnas, then Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Saix, Axel, Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, Roxas, and surprisingly Xion. This place must have been built before her death because Namine and I were the only ones to remember she even existed. Wait…I see it! The Blade of Olympus is at the end of the hall, unguarded! This is too easy. There's got to be some catch. I'm coming back."

"We'll be waiting," Sora said as he put the communication device back in his pocket.

"So are we going to try to steal it?" Annabeth asked.

"We will, but not this way. It's far too easy for John to just be able to walk up to it. There must be some sort of trap," Sora said. "It doesn't make sense that they'd leave what is supposedly their most powerful weapon unguarded."

"I could go in using a Corridor of Darkness," Nico offered. "I can be in and out within seconds and avoid any traps they may have in place."

"We'll wait until John gets back before making any decisions," Sora said. He hugged Kairi tightly with his right arm. I knew the look in his cerulean eyes. The way he touched Kairi, he was afraid that he might lose her. He gently stroked her crimson hair with his left hand. "I love you Kai."

"I love you too Sora," she said. They shared a quick kiss before she stood by Namine's side. Namine was holding Roxas' hand tightly, afraid to let go. Roxas held onto her hand, not loosening his grip either. Riku and Thalia shared a quick moment as well. Jason, Nico, and John were the only ones who didn't have anyone with them. Jason never stopped worrying about Piper.

John appeared, fully visible, through the doors. I was a little disappointed that he didn't have the Blade of Olympus, but I realized the risk. We didn't have enough intel to know what kind of security systems the Nobodies had installed. "Sorry I couldn't get the Blade," he apologized.

"It's alright," Riku said. "The risk was too much. Nico has an idea. He says he can use a Corridor of Darkness to sneak in and steal the sword without being detected."

"I've thought of that," John said. "But don't you think that if I would have thought it would work that I would have already done that?"

"I want to at least try," Nico said. "I honestly don't care what happens to me. There's already a ruler of the mutual Underworld and I don't have any family anyway, so no one would miss me."

"Nico, don't say that," Annabeth said. "We would miss you."

"You're too kind, but I still need to try to take the Blade. I need to make myself useful," he said as he held out his hand and opened the Corridor of Darkness. "I'll be right back."

We stood there for a minute, waiting for Nico to return. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes passed and he didn't return. "I'm getting worried. Nico should have been back a long time ago," Annabeth said.

"I'm going after him," I said as I started toward the door.

John grabbed my wrist before I could open the door. "You can't go alone. You have no idea what's even in there, or what got Nico."

"He's my cousin! I've got to find out what happened," I said defiantly.

"Well, I'm going with you," John said.

We entered the room and headed down the long hall. I took note of the portraits John had described as we went. They all held absolutely no emotion in their eyes. Given the order John had said earlier, I was able to see who was who. Out of all the portraits, Xemnas scared me the most. There was an air of evil practically oozing from his image. I knew he couldn't actually hurt me, being dead and all, but still, it made me uneasy. I soon saw the familiar face of Lea, or should I say, Axel. Then, I came to the last two portraits. One I recognized immediately as Roxas, though there was something about him. He looked so depressed, or emotionless. It was hard for me to tell. Maybe it was some strange combination of both. And then I saw the last, Xion. She was as beautiful as Roxas and Riku described, and something seemed so familiar about her. I then pieced it together in my mind that she looked almost exactly like Kairi and Namine. "So, this is Xion?" I asked.

"Yeah, she was one of my best friends," John said.

"I'm sorry you lost her," I said sympathetically.

"I'm fine," he said, though I knew he was lying. The guilt he felt for her loss would eat at him for as long as he lived. It may take years, but I knew it would eventually destroy either his body or mind. "We should hurry and find your friend before he ends up like mine."

"John, you know Axel isn't dead, right?" I asked, hoping to make him feel a little better.

"I know," he said. "I speak with Lea on a regular basis. Sometimes, when he gets time off from being Ansem's bodyguard, we'll go to Twilight Town and have some Sea-Salt Ice Cream on top of the clock tower for old time's sake. Though, it's not the same without Roxas and Xion." John's face held so many dark and painful emotions. "Well, at least Roxas and Axel are still alive."

When we finally reached the end of the hallway, but the Blade of Olympus was nowhere to be found. Nico was gone as well. Thoughts started to race through my mind as to what had happened. I tried to convince myself that maybe he'd taken it back to the Highwind, but I couldn't believe that. Then, I felt a presence around me similar to all the other gods. Ares materialized before us with a sword drawn. I knew there would be no talking him out of attacking us, but I didn't care. I never liked him anyway, so I had no problem with killing him. "Where's Nico?" I asked the god of war angrily.

"He's safe," Ares said. "You wouldn't believe how many of the Organization's holding cells are still intact. We have him locked away and his god powers are nullified by a spell Zeus cast on him. The magic in this universe is so much better than what we had back home!"

"Release him, or we'll kill you right now!" John said. He drew the dual energy blades and immediately combined them at their pommels. I knew he had no intention of letting Ares surrender and Ares had no intention of surrendering. This would, without question, be a fight to the death.

Ares didn't say another word as he went on the offensive. There was no backing down now. I drew _Anaklusmos_ and deflected the heavy sword. Ares flew back as his Celestial Bronze sword made contact with the Keyblade. I didn't realize I'd struck that hard. I took this opportunity to use an Ars Arcanum attack on him. He dodged as I wildly slashed, but John got to him for me. He spun his dual-bladed sword and slashed at the former god. Ares howled in agony as the white-hot blades cut his skin.

After regaining his footing, Ares made another attack at John. John failed to deflect and was struck in the leg, rendering him incapacitated. I cast a Cura spell at my friend and took over where he left off. I brought Riptide down on Ares' arm. His left arm was immediately severed by my razor-sharp Keyblade. Ares collapsed to the ground. "Perseus…you…will pay," he choked out through the intense pain he felt. I took no pity on him. The Darkness in my heart wouldn't allow me to. I simply drove my Keyblade into his chest and watched as black tendrils of Darkness encased his body and he faded into oblivion. I felt a small pain in my chest as the Darkness tried to gain more ground in my heart. I fought it and managed to keep it at bay. I wouldn't allow myself to be consumed like my father and other relatives had.

"John, come in," Sora said over the communicator. "What's going on?"

"We just destroyed Ares," he said. "Nico's been captured and the Blade is gone. We've got to regroup and find him before Zeus and Poseidon decide to kill him."

"Alright," Sora said. "Do you have any idea where he is?"

"Ares said he was in a holding cell somewhere in the castle. Ask Roxas if he remembers where they were."

"Sorry, John," Roxas said. "I can't remember. I never went to the cell blocks."

"Wait," Kairi interjected. "I remember how to get there. When Axel kidnapped me, I saw the route he took. I can lead you there."

"That's great Kai," John said. "We'll be back in a few minutes." John opened a Corridor of Darkness in front of us. "You don't mind taking one of these, do you? It's faster than walking all the way down that hall."

"Sure," I said. I stepped through the dark portal and immediately felt chills go down my spine. It certainly wasn't a pleasant experience. Within a second, I was on the other side and facing my friends. "Well, that wasn't fun." I chuckled a little to make it look like I wasn't totally freaked out, but I don't think I did a convincing job. I took Annabeth's hand. "So, lead the way Kairi," I said.

"Ok, follow me guys," she said.

She led us through the endless maze toward the detention block of the castle. "This place brings back some awful memories," Kairi said. "These cells aren't exactly designed for comfort. Thank you for saving me, Namine."

"No problem," she said. "I couldn't just leave you there." She walked closer to Kairi, leaving Roxas' side, and put her arm around Kai's shoulder. "You're my best friend, Kai."

"Namine, you _are_ me," Kairi said, laughing at her Nobody.

"True, but that doesn't change anything since we exist independently," she corrected. "At least, we do now ever since Sora created me and Roxas." I couldn't imagine speaking with my Nobody, or even having one for that matter. The whole thing about Heartless and Nobodies was so confusing and I gave up trying to wrap my brain around it ever since the first day we met Namine and Roxas at Kairi's dinner table and Namine said the word "Nobody." I just prayed that this would all have a swift end so we could go home and get on with our lives. That is, if we survived this ordeal.

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><p>Author's Note: So, how did you like it? Three more chapters before the story is over. Next chapter will be the final battles with Zeus and Poseidon, then after that will be the aftermath, then an epilogue that I won't reveal too many details about, but it takes place at an unspecified time in the future. There's a bigger timeskip than there was with Shattered Hearts, though. Next update will be Creeping Death, then Light and Dark, then Her Scars. Thank you for reading. Until next time, friends...<p> 


	14. End of the Road: The Final Battle

Author's Note: Hey, sorry for the late update, but here's an extra-long chapter to make up for it. This is the climactic finale of Hearts of the Olympians. All that is left after this is the epilogue, which will probably be your next update. Hope you guys enjoy and I put a lot of care into making this worth the wait. Enjoy, friends...

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><p>We eventually heard rustling of chains and a low moan coming from up ahead. Kairi picked up the pace and the rest of us followed suit. I came across the cage Nico was being held in. His arms were chained behind his back and his face was bloodied from being beaten. That liar Ares, saying Nico was being taken care of. He had some sick definition of taking care of people. Then again, Ares was never the most compassionate of the gods. "Guys," Nico choked out through his pain. "You gotta get me out of here!"<p>

"I'll let him out," Sora said, holding Ultima-Weapon out toward the lock on the cell. A beam shot from the Keyblade and a click was heard. The cell door immediately retracted and Sora stepped in to cut off Nico's chains. He caught Nico before he could hit the ground and cast Cura on him. The Death god's wounds healed quickly and he could stand, albeit barely.

"Thanks," he said. "But we need to hurry. Poseidon is the one who brought me here and I heard him talking with Zeus. They're planning on going back to the Rift and sealing it so they can strand us here and take over after they've killed us! We have to get there before they do!"

"I think I know where they may be," Riku said. "The highest point of the castle that is still standing would probably be Ruin and Creation's Passage. That place is so full of Darkness that it creeps across the platforms. They may be high-ranking, but they're still Nobodies. They'll follow the greatest Darkness. It's the basic instinct in their minds to follow Darkness because of Kingdom Hearts. They may not admit it, but they also want their hearts back. All Nobodies desire that above all else, to be complete once more."

"Then let's hurry up and go," I said. I shot a glance at Annabeth and she nodded. I looked back to everyone else; scared to death to think of who I may never see again. Well, even if we all survived, we'd still be separated. I'd never see Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Namine, or John again after this regardless. But even so, at least they'd still be alive, and that was all that mattered. "And one more thing, I want to face my father alone."

"No," Annabeth said. "You need the rest of us, Percy! You'll die if you fight him alone!" Her concern for me was touching, but that didn't change my mind.

"At least let me go with you," Sora said. "I have experience fighting Nobodies like Zeus and Poseidon. I can help you."

"Sora," Kairi said. "Are you sure that you and Percy can handle them by yourselves?"

"Positive, Kai," he said. "And when this is over, I have a special surprise for you. I was going to do it before, but all this happened and…"

She shut up his rambling with a kiss. "Just come back to me in one piece, okay?"

"I promise, Kairi," he said, kissing her one more time. "Percy and I will fight Poseidon alone, but all of us will take on Zeus. He's too powerful for any less than all eleven of us to fight him."

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said softly. She kissed me one more time and I returned it. "Alright, let's go."

"I'll open a Corridor of Darkness to that area Riku mentioned," Nico said.

"Can you do that without knowing exactly where it is?" Riku asked.

"Corridors of Darkness aren't that different from the Shadow Travel I do," he said. "Albeit they're a little harder to determine where they lead, I can navigate them without having a direct route. Just follow me, guys." Nico held out his hand and the dark portal opened. I grabbed Annabeth's hand and stepped through the portal behind Nico. The others followed us through the chillingly Dark passage. I could have sworn I felt something grab my shoulder, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I just tried to keep up with Nico as best I could without losing Annabeth.

We arrived at our destination a few minutes after. The area was large, with many platforms levitating and Darkness in multiple shades of purple, red, green, blue, and black creeping across the walls and floors. The sight was breathtaking and frightening. I looked to the highest platform to see Zeus and my father talking to one another. It actually looked like they were arguing. It struck me that this was the first time I'd seen dad since he was transformed. Out of all of them, it seemed he took the most drastic transformation, changing into a younger version of his human appearance. He looked…almost exactly like me!

Zeus and dad ended their heated conversation as they noticed our presence. "Well, demigods, Keyblade Masters, and Nobodies…this is sure to be a fine battle, wouldn't you say, brother?" Zeus said mockingly as he turned to my father.

"Huh, yeah," dad said absently, as if there had been something on his mind. "I will go and make the preparations. You can finish them off by yourself, Zeus."

"Dad, wait," I yelled. "You're going to let him kill me? How could you?"

"I want to be whole again, son," he said. "I'm sorry, but you and your friends are getting in the way of that goal. I didn't want it to come to this, son, I promise you, but it seems that there is no other way."

"I knew you never loved me," I said in disgust. "You would hide behind that rule of not being allowed to have demigod children, but you're a god! You didn't have to answer to anyone. You could have seen me all along, but your actions now prove to me that you never wanted me! I was a mistake in your eyes! That's the real reason you left mom, isn't it? Or did you even love her, too?"

"Percy, I did love you, and I was in love with your mother! I left because of my godly duties, and you know that! I can't feel love anymore, and I want emotion so badly. If it means destroying you and your friends, then so be it," he said, breaking my heart with each cruel word. "Zeus, take care of them. I don't want to see my son's death."

"With pleasure," Zeus said. He drew the Blade of Olympus and flew to the middle of the area while father retreated through the door that was flowing with Darkness. "It's time for you all to die!"

A barrier appeared in front of the exit and in front of the door father had left from. There was no escape unless we destroyed Zeus. I drew my Keyblade and everyone else drew their weapons. Namine started firing rounds from her P90 at Zeus, only pissing him off. She dodged out of the way of a beam attack from the Blade's tip, her dress being singed by the white-hot laser. Roxas caught her before she could hit her head on the wall and threw Oathkeeper and Oblivion in a Dual-Raid attack. Zeus smacked them away, Oathkeeper flying toward Roxas' hand and Oblivion going my way. I jumped, taking advantage of this world's messed-up physics, and grabbed the Keyblade, dual-wielding it with Riptide. I glided up to Zeus and looking for holes in his guard. The Keyblades collided with the powerful sword and I was nearly torn apart by the magic radiating from it. I stared into the God of Olympus' cold, heartless eyes. They held so much hate, surprising since it was coming from someone who couldn't feel. I pushed hard and sent him flying backward. Jason and Thalia ran up the walkway to the platform closest to him. Thalia threw her spear and Jason jumped, flying alongside it with his sword drawn. He caught Zeus by surprise and yelled "mori monstrum," meaning, "die monster." The sword cut Zeus' arm and the spear went into his shoulder. Zeus roared every curse he could think of as the pain seared through his body. I watched as the brother/sister team attacked their father relentlessly, causing blood to spray in all directions. Thalia's god powers came in handy as she pounded her father with her shield. Zeus collapsed to one of the platforms closest to the rest of us and we watched as he lay there, broken and bleeding, begging for his children to spare him.

"You think you have won this fight, half-bloods?" he asked rhetorically. "I may die, but Poseidon will be victorious in our conquest. He shall resurrect our souls once he has taken over this universe, and there is nothing you can do to stop him!"

"Jupiter, go to Hades!" Jason yelled as he brought his sword down on his father. The celestial bronze sword came down on his head and Zeus' skull was split open. Jason ended the slash at the base of his father's neck and breathed heavily in exhaustion. "Gaaahhhh!" he yelled furiously.

"Jason, calm down," Thalia said, putting her hand on her brother's shoulder. "He's dead. You've won this fight." Zeus' body disappeared in a cloud of Darkness like all the others had. Even the King of the Gods was subject to the same fate as any other Nobody.

"Then why doesn't this feel like a victory?" he said. "Why didn't I feel any relief from this?"

"Maybe because you killed your father out of hatred," Annabeth said. "Though he needed to be stopped, your only motive for destroying him was revenge."

"But…he…he deserved it," Jason said weakly. "I…I don't feel good," he said. He collapsed to the ground in extreme exhaustion, or what we thought was exhaustion. Thalia pulled the collar of his shirt and we all saw a deep gash on his neck. Jason was bleeding out at an alarming rate. I had no idea when he had been hit.

"No, my spear," Thalia said. "My spear must have cut him when it flew past him. Jason, I'm so sorry!"

"It's no problem," Sora said. He cast a Curaga spell on Jason and the wound closed up. "We deal with this kind of injury all the time. It's nothing we can't…" Sora was interrupted as my father appeared on a higher platform.

"Are you quite finished, children?" dad asked.

"You're next, Neptune!" Jason yelled with the rage of a thousand wrathful gods. I noticed the glow around him as if he were on fire.

"I see you have acquired brother's power, young Jason," dad mused. "That still won't save you from your certain destruction."

"You're not even the King of the Gods, Poseidon," Riku called out. "What makes you think you're more powerful than any of the others?"

"Do you remember on Olympus Coliseum, all those Heartless and Nobodies you fought?" dad asked. "I sent them personally and collected the hearts from the Heartless, creating a miniature Kingdom Hearts for my disposal. Brother only recently found out about it. That was why we were arguing when you came in. I had no intention of sharing that power."

"I don't care how powerful you've become," I said. "I can't let you take over this world or any other world! Even if you are my father, Paul Blofis is my dad! But hey, Gabe was more of a father than you've ever been!"

"I'm sorry it has come to this, my son. Heartless, attack them," he commanded as multiple Heartless surrounded us.

"Percy, Sora, go on," John said. "We can handle these insignificant pests."

"Alright," I said. I quickly found Annabeth and stared deep into her beautiful, gray eyes. I brushed a strand of gold from her face. "Annabeth, if I don't come back, I just want you to know that I've always loved you and will continue to love you for eternity until we meet again in the Underworld. If we do make it out of here alive, I want to marry you the first chance I get. Baby, will you marry me if we survive?"

Her mouth dropped open at the proposal. Her face turned pink as she tried to maintain her composure for the coming battle. She took a few short breaths before giving her answer. "Percy…I don't know what to say…I mean, the only thing I can think of is 'yes.' I will marry you, even if we don't make it out of here. I'll marry you in Elysium if it's possible!" She quickly thrust her lips to mine and we shared what could possibly be our final kiss in this life. I was prepared to die, and so was she. Actually, being demigods, we were always prepared to die. But…we were never prepared to lose someone. That feat is impossible, really. You can never be prepared for the death of a loved one, no matter if it was sudden and unexpected, or if you saw it coming for months. I wasn't about to live without her for one second. I lost her once, and I doubt John would be willing to risk bringing her back again. "Now, go out there and kill that Nobody, you big idiot." She smiled and kissed me one more time, leaving her sweet taste on my lips with her tongue. She turned and ran toward the fight as I fled the battle with Sora by my side.

He drew Ultima Weapon and dug around in his pocket as we ran. "What are you looking for, Sora?" I asked.

"I'm going to give you another Keyblade. Roxas told me to give it to you, and I think…here it is!" He pulled out a small pendant shaped like a cross. It was gold and gray with a heart-shaped gap in the center. "This is his Omega Weapon. It's similar in power to my Ultima Weapon. He said you'd probably need it."

"Thanks," I said, taking the keychain and placing it on my Keyblade. _Anaklusmos_ took on the form of the weapon, a long, gold blade with the head comprised of an incomplete circle and spikes radiating from the circle. It was very lightweight and I could feel the magic radiating from it. Now I knew why it was called Omega Weapon. This thing packed some serious power!

We made our way up to the platform with the exit and ran through the door. We exited at the top of the castle. Father was standing at the edge of the half-destroyed platform. A large gap between where we stood and the rest of the stairs nearly prevented us from progressing any further. Sora and I jumped as far as we could to clear the gap. We barely made it to the other side, but that didn't matter. I ran to my father, standing about six feet away from him. He held no emotion in his eyes and was cradling something in his arms. It looked like a small, heart-shaped moon. "Dad, is that…Kingdom Hearts?" I asked, puzzled by the small object. It was so tiny, yet I could feel the power radiating from it. It was enough power to make one person like a god. And there was no telling what it would do to someone who was already a god.

"Yes, my son," he said, having the nerve to call me "son." "This is my personal Kingdom Hearts. Is it not the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? Please, if you join me, I can share its power with you. We don't have to fight like enemies, Percy!"

"Yes, we do Poseidon," I said with sorrow in my voice. I raised Omega and father pressed the small Kingdom Hearts into his chest, causing him to glow brightly before the light faded. He still retained the younger appearance, but most of the similarities to me had disappeared. Instead of black hair, it had turned pure white and grown in length. His green eyes turned to a deep, red hue. Water materialized around him from nothing. He called water to his hand and made a trident. Poseidon did the same with the other and formed an enormous sword. It appeared to be four feet long with a six-inch-long handle. The blade was double-edged and wickedly sharp. It appeared to be similar to Luke's Backbiter, only instead of steel and Celestial Bronze; it was Celestial Bronze and what appeared to be coral. I had a feeling that this coral was a lot stronger than normal run-of-the-mill coral.

Father lunged at me and I rolled out of the way. I tried to slash at him, but he recovered too quickly. Sora charged a Ragnarok beam and shot it toward him. Poseidon deflected the beams and nearly shot them toward me. If Omega hadn't been so strong, it would have pierced my lung after passing through the blade. I cast Thundara at father and singed his hair. The jolt left him stunned for long enough to get another strike at him. I slashed under his guard and made a small cut on his stomach, which promptly healed by itself. He cut my arm with the Bronze side of his sword and I yelled in pain. Sora cast Cura on me and rejoined the fight. We attacked father on both sides, but he blocked each of our attacks. Sora was fighting the trident and I was fighting the sword.

After a few minutes of getting nowhere, father jumped into the air and his chariot materialized underneath him. "He's retreating for the Rift," I said. "How do we catch up to him now?"

"The Highwind can take us," he said. Sora pushed a button on his watch and the Gummi Ship flew toward us. We jumped into the open cockpit and dashed in the direction father had taken. It took a few minutes, but we finally caught up to him. Sora fired a laser and damaged Poseidon's chariot, forcing him to land on a small asteroid a few hundred miles away from the Rift. Sora cast a spell that allowed us to breathe in space and we exited the Gummi Ship.

Poseidon was looking rough as we caught up to him. His robes were torn and nose bloodied. His hair looked like a raccoon had made a nest in it. "This is the end, Poseidon," I called. "You can't win!"

"Foolish mortals, always thinking you can do whatever you want!" he rambled. "Everyone has forgotten the Greek Gods, and for all we do for them? What do we get in exchange? Two groups of ungrateful children who can't even get along with each other without blood! If Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter could get along, then you would have destroyed us long ago! You wouldn't have fought us so long and hard. But I guess things are working toward my good. The Sisters have shown their favor toward me, the last Olympian!"

"You've completely lost it," I said. "Sora, I need to do this alone." Sora nodded in agreement and stood on the sidelines. "You're not the Poseidon I knew! Goodbye, father," I said as I charged toward him for the final battle, tears in my eyes and a broken heart in my chest. He had ditched his trident and was now using what appeared to be another Blade of Olympus. It wasn't the same sword, though. It was just a large, blue blade. Water was flowing around the blade, suspended by god only knows what. I took advantage of the low gravity to extend my jumps even further. I lifted Omega above my head and clashed swords with father. The Keyblade caused the water on the blade to turn to steam. Sparks flew and almost took out our eyes. He thrust the blade forward and pushed me back into the mountainside. I looked up and saw him coming at me, rolling out of the way just in time. The blade was buried up to the hilt, so I took the chance to get a few attacks in. I sent a Triple Firaga Burst toward him, but he promptly extinguished the flames. I'd need to try different tactics. I called "Thundaga" as loud as I could and a pillar of lightning came down from nowhere. The bolt made contact with father and left him severely weakened.

I ran over to him and tossed the Keyblade aside. I grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the rocks. I repeated the brutal act of rage over and over again until his head was a bloody pulp and he was barely hanging on to life. "How could you do this, father? How could you betray everyone on Earth?" I screamed as I punched him again. "Mom, Paul, Chiron, Grover, Rachel, Clarisse, Michael, Piper, Leo, Henry, and all my friends who died to save your sorry hide during the Second Titan War, we all worshipped you gods and we loved you!" I kicked him out of rage and he coughed up so much blood.

"Percy…I'm sorry, my son. My…mind was…clouded by the Darkness. But here, at my death, I finally…see the…the Light. Please, forgive me, Percy," he said. "You were…always my favorite son…and when I'm gone, you shall be Ruler of the Seas. Goodbye, Perseus." He took one, final breath, closed his eyes, and his body faded away into Darkness.

Sorrow crept into my being and Darkness threatened to overtake my heart. "What have I done?" I asked myself.

"Saved two universes," Sora said, putting a hand on my shoulder as I stood there on my knees and observed the hole in the rock shaped like my father's face.

"But at the cost of my last words to father being full of hate and rage," I mused to myself.

"He knows you didn't mean all of that, Percy," Sora said. "Deep down, I believe he wanted you to stop him. He'd lost his mind, and needed to be stopped."

"I guess you're right," I said with a tear leaving my eye as Sora led me over to the Highwind. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was until I sat down in the chair. I looked at my reflection in the window. My clothes were torn, blood soaked them. And I probably smelled like a horse's butt. I fell asleep in the seat while Sora flew us back to The World That Never Was. For once in so many months, I could finally relax. The battle had been won.

It was finally over.

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><p>After regrouping at the top of the Organization's stronghold, we all flew to the edge of the Rift and stood together for the last time. It was such a depressing moment, but at least we all had come through alive and unharmed for the most part.<p>

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," I said.

"It looks that way to me," Sora said. He held out his hand and I grabbed it, shaking his hand for the last time.

"We're really going to miss you guys," Kairi said, hugging Annabeth and Thalia.

"I know, I'm going to miss you all too," Annabeth said as a tear escaped her eye. Kairi wiped it away lovingly, as if they'd been best friends all their lives. "After what we've been though together, it will be hard to be apart."

"I'm the only one who can still come through, being the god of the dead now," Nico said. "I can relay messages through the Underworld, but it would be hard for us all to meet again until you guys are dead."

"Will you be there when we die," Riku said.

"Yeah, we're immortal gods now," I said. "We'll always be there, thinking of you while we keep peace on our Earth."

"That's good," Namine said. "Your parents would be proud."

Thalia walked up to Riku one last time. "Riku, I'm sorry we can't be together anymore," she said. "You'll always be my Dark Knight."

"And you're my beautiful goddess," he said. "I love you, Thalia Grace." He leaned in to kiss her for the final time. My heart broke for both of them. I still had Annabeth, Sora still had Kairi, Roxas had Namine, and Jason was going back to Piper, but Riku had to be separated from his love for the rest of his life. Thalia lost her hands in Riku's shaggy silver hair and savored that final moment of their love. "I'll never forget about you, Thalia."

"I love you, Riku, and I'll never forget you either," she said. They kissed quickly one, last time before she stepped back to our side.

"I'll seal the gateway's Keyhole on this side, and Percy, you need to seal it on your side while you still have a Keyblade. After some time in your world, Riptide should turn back into a Celestial Bronze sword," Sora said.

"Alright," I said. "I guess we should be returning back to our home. Goodbye everyone," I said, trying not to choke on tears. I'd miss the people that I'd grown so close to, but it was enough for me to know that they were safe and still alive.

"Goodbye, Percy," Sora said, waving and summoning Kingdom Key and preparing to close the Keyhole. I raised _Anaklusmos_ one more time in its Keyblade form and shot a beam toward the edge of the Rift. It made contact with Sora's beam and the inter-dimensional opening sealed permanently behind us. All we could do is move forward to our newly-restored Earth and claim our parents' thrones on Olympus. I walked with Annabeth at my side toward our new future as the new Gods of Olympus.

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><p>Author's Note: It is so bittersweet to end a story that you have been working on for so long. This story has been so fun to write these past six months. I'd love to personally thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading and enjoying this story, which I poured my heart and soul into. You have no idea the joy I feel when I see a review and a fave for this story. Even moreso than any other story I've written. The Percy JacksonKingdom Hearts crossover section had been dormant for too long. Hopefully, thanks to this story, it can be revived and get the attention it rightly deserves.

Thank you all once again. I hope you continue to read and enjoy my stories in the future. What will replace this story? Well, it will be another crossover XD. A Silent Hill/Kingdom Hearts crossover, to be exact. First chapter is in the works. I hope that it will be as successful as this.

Now, I'm off to work on other things. In the mean time, check out The Son of Neptune. What I've read so far is amazing. It's so great to have Percy back in the spotlight. :D. Goodbye, friends. The epilogue will be posted soon. Until then, farewell friends...


	15. Epilogue: Eternal Love

Author's Note: Here we are, the long-awaited epilogue. This will be the final installment in Hearts of the Olympians, sadly. Thalia's PoV this time. Enjoy, friends...

Partially inspired by Broken by Seether and Stones Under Rushing Water by NeedToBreathe. Both beautiful and sad songs.

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><p>I sat on my throne as the new goddess of the Hunt. It had been nearly thirty years since I'd assumed that role, succeeding Artemis, who sacrificed so much for me and for all of us. I was surrounded by my friends and relatives, who had also been changed to gods following the Olympians' defeat. My brother, Jason, had done a wonderful job leading us as the new Sky God. Immortality had been great, but, through all these decades, there had been one thing that never left my mind.<p>

Riku

My heart shattered every day, knowing that I was eternally separated from him. Though we only knew each other for a short time, I knew I loved him more than anything. He was so loving toward me, and though at first he seemed to see his friend Xion more than me, he eventually got to know me for who I was and loved me even more. And I loved him with equal passion. For some reason, he considered me beautiful, which I never thought I was. I was just some punk Goth girl who had issues with pretty much every man on earth besides Percy, Jason, and Nico. But Riku…Riku could see past my outward appearance and see me for who I am, which wasn't really much better. I was broken. After Luke…no, I didn't even want to think about anyone else. Luke's loss was one of the reasons I had no problem with swearing off men for eternity. His betrayal affected me more than I ever let on. And when he died…that completely destroyed me. I loved Luke, and I didn't think that I'd ever recover.

But Riku changed that. From the moment I looked into his sea-green eyes, I knew it would be hard to ever leave him. I even gave my very life to save him, suffering a painful death at the hands of my own father. I did the very thing I swore I'd never do, fall head-over-heels in love with someone. For thirty years, I missed his touch. I missed losing my fingers in his long, shaggy, white hair. I missed his kiss, the way he'd whisper how much he loved me in my ear. I wanted, more than anything, to see him again. I just had to find a way to get back to him!

I left Olympus without a word. Nobody questioned my disappearance because I would periodically go to be with my Hunters anyway, but this time, my journey was for my own purposes. I teleported myself to the Underworld to speak with Nico about letting me cross over to the other side, to Hades' Underworld and Riku's universe.

"Thalia, it's good to see you again," Nico said as I walked into his throne room. He hadn't changed it since taking over from his father. Skulls and other symbols of death decorated the large hall. His throne was custom-made, though. It was crafted from a large slab of obsidian. It was upholstered with Hellhound pelts and Minotaur skulls were on either armrest. "How have you been?"

"I've been better," I honestly replied. "Nico, I need to ask a favor of you." I looked down at the stone floor as I said that.

"Anything for my favorite cousin," he said jokingly. I knew he didn't have a favorite because he called Percy the same thing. "What do you need?"

I bit my lip, knowing the answer already. "I…I want to go over to the other side," I said, knowing that he'd know what I meant. "I want to see him again."

"Thalia, I…you know that's…I wouldn't have a problem with it except that Hades may not let you come back," he stuttered, fumbling over his words in a search for the right ones.

"I know," I said. "But that's just a risk I have to take. Don't you understand how much I've missed Riku?"

"I know what it's like to miss someone you love," he said.

"No you don't," I said. "All the people you're separated from are dead and you can see them whenever you want! I guarantee you've spoken with Bianca today, and if you haven't, then you plan to! You don't know what I'm going through!"

Nico thought hard for a moment. "Look, I can speak with Hades and try to convince him to let you come back after I let you through. I can't guarantee anything, and he's not exactly the most honest god ever, but if you're willing to take the risk, I can't stop you. Are you sure you really want this?"

"I want, more than anything, to see Riku again," I said softly. "I still love him."

"But what if he's moved on since then? I mean, it's been thirty years, Thalia," Nico said. "He's probably married now."

I bit my lip to hold back the tears. "I don't care," I said with a shaky voice. "I just want to see if he's fine and if he's married, if he's happy, then I'll be happy for him. It may hurt me, but I love him enough to let him go if he's happy."

"Alright," Nico said. "Wait here and I'll speak with Hades." My cousin left me alone for a few minutes. I saw Persephone and Demeter, but neither spoke to me. The other gods didn't exactly take it very well when they woke from their coma and found the world under new management. Some, such as Iris and Hestia, were very welcoming of us. But Persephone and Demeter, along with Nemesis and quite a few others, were still angry that we couldn't find another way. No matter how much we told them that there had been no other way, that the gods had completely lost their minds, they were reluctant to accept the fact that we were the Olympians now.

Nico reappeared beside me after a while. "Ok, I talked to Hades and he said that he'd be willing to let you through, but you only have one day. If you stay any longer, then you'll be stranded forever. Are you willing to risk that?"

"Yes," I said with confidence and joy in my heart. I threw myself forward and embraced my cousin. "I love you, Nico. Thank you so much for doing this!"

"You're welcome, Thalia," he said. "Remember, all you have is one day." He opened a portal in front of us to the other universe. "There will be another portal like this in Hades' throne room for twenty-four hours. Please, come back safely."

I looked into his dark eyes and nodded. I walked toward the portal and stepped through. A chill ran down my spine when I touched it. Moments later, I was on a sandy beach. I knew it had to be the Destiny Islands, Riku's homeworld. I breathed in the fresh, crisp ocean breeze. Percy and Annabeth had told me about this place, where they appeared when they first arrived in this universe. Jason, Nico, and I hadn't been so lucky. We landed in the Pegasus Galaxy on a world that was in the middle of Civil War. Luckily, we found a helpful local who knew the address to Atlantis. I'd been glad to get out of there with my life.

This world possessed beauty that I couldn't even imagine. Golden sand covered the shores and palm trees with a strange, star-shaped fruit grew all over the place. The sun was setting and I knew I only had one night and day with the man I'd loved all these years.

I decided to walk through the streets of the town, looking for anyone who could point me in the right direction. Suddenly, I ran into a woman with long, golden blond hair like Annabeth's. She had purple eyes that popped wide open as soon as she saw me. "Thalia, is that you?" the strange woman asked.

"That's my name, but…who are you? Do I know you?" I asked, puzzled by her recognizing me.

"Oh, that's right," she said. "You probably wouldn't recognize me in this form. It's me, Kairi."

My jaw dropped open when she called herself "Kairi." "You're…there's no way you could be the Kairi I know," I said. Then I took another good look at this woman. She looked like she was around the age Kairi would be. Her figure was similar, and I was impressed that she looked so good to be 48 years old. "Is that really you, Kai?"

"Yes, it is," she said. She bit her lip and lowered her eyes as if she thought of some painful memory. "A lot happened a few years after you guys left. Some things went wrong and now…I'm stuck like this. It's a long story, and it's too painful for me to tell."

"I understand, Kairi," I said. I walked toward her and embraced my old friend. "I've missed all of you so much."

"We've missed you all too," she said. "Especially Riku, he's never forgotten about you, Thalia."

"That's kind of the reason I'm here," I said. "I have one day here, and I really need to find him."

"Ok, his house is right down that street," she said, pointing toward a row of houses. "You can't miss his house. It's the brown, two-story house with a motorcycle in the garage. It was so wonderful to see you again, Thalia. You look exactly the same as I remember."

"And you're just as beautiful as ever, Kai," I said as I hugged my old friend once more. "It's been so many years since we won that battle. I guess I'd better go see Riku."

"Alright," she said. "If you can ever come back, that would be great."

"It would, but I have a feeling that the next time Hades is willing to let me back through, you'll be dead," I said. "It took Nico some time to convince him to let me come through today."

"Yeah, well, goodbye, Thalia," she said. "I'll miss you, and I love you."

"Love you too, Kai," I said as I hugged my friend for the last time in her life. Strange, it took immortality to realize really how short a mortal life is. In what would feel like weeks for me, Kairi would have already lived the small remainder of her life and died, whereas I'd live forever unless something happened to me like what happened to Pan or our parents. How long would she have left? Twenty years? Thirty years? Ten years? Only the Fates knew when my dear friend's end would come, but I knew it would be sooner rather than later. I wondered what had happened to make her appearance change so drastically, but that was a small concern. I needed to find Riku and see him one more time.

I made my way down the streets of the Destiny Islands toward Riku's home. The closer I came to his house, the longer it seemed to take. I was dying to see him again after all these years, knowing that he missed me too. Meeting Kairi took a whole burden from my shoulders.

A few minutes later, I arrived at his front door. I took a deep breath and hesitantly knocked on the door, calming my nerves by repeating Kairi's reassuring words over and over in my mind. I stood there for a moment…nobody answered. I knocked once more, and still no answer. I'd almost given up and started to walk away until I heard the door open behind me. "Hello, can I help you with something?" a familiar, yet slightly aged, voice said behind me. I turned around to see the man I loved standing there, his silver hair having taken more of a grayish hue. His face was slightly wrinkled from age, but still held a god-like perfection. Though many things had changed, he still possessed those deep, green eyes that made my very soul melt. I felt like my legs would collapse underneath me, no easy feat for a goddess. "Oh my God, is that you?" he asked, dumbfounded at the sight of me.

"Riku…I came back to be with you for one day," I said.

"Thalia…I've missed you so much," he said as he walked toward me, placing a hand on my cheek.

I just couldn't believe that it was real. After thirty years, I was finally with Riku again! I never wanted that day to end. I was in Paradise. Not even Olympus, in all its beauty, could compare to being with Riku.

He pulled me into his house and kissed me furiously, releasing all he must have been feeling for three decades into one, passionate kiss. I returned with equal fire, losing my hands in his long hair and losing myself in his embrace. I didn't need to breathe, but he took a breath, breaking the kiss momentarily. "Thalia, how did you come back?"

"Nico convinced Hades to let me be with you for one day. At sunset tomorrow, the portal will close, and I'll have to leave. I may never see you again after tonight, Riku," I said, trying to stifle the tears that desperately tried to escape.

"If we only have one day, I want to make the best of it. Thalia, I love you, and I never stopped loving you after all these years," he said as he kissed away a stray tear.

"I love you too, Riku," I said. "I'll love you for all eternity."

He led me to his room and set me down on his bed, his lips never leaving mine as he sat beside me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him deeper into the kiss. My heart fluttered as his hands caressed my body, memorizing each line and curve with careful attention. I opened one eye as he pushed me down on the bed, knowing exactly what was coming next. Our passion continued all night, making up for thirty years of being separated and also making the reality of our eternal separation so much harder to bear. I would miss Riku's touch, his kiss, the sheer love he had for me. He was the only man who ever understood me.

The next morning, I woke up in Riku's arms, stiff and slightly sore from the physical exertion the night before, but not regretting it at all. I threw my arm over his chest, kissing him to wake him up. "Goodmorning, Riku," I said, still tired, but awake.

He slowly woke up, his eyes fluttering open. He pushed his bangs from his eyes and pulled me closer, leaving no space between our bodies. He was so warm, pressed up against me like that. Riku brushed his lips against my cheek gently. "Goodmorning, my Goddess," he said. I blushed, though I was, in fact, a goddess. "What time is it?"

I looked over to the clock on the dresser. "It's almost 1 o'clock," I said. "What time does the sun set here?"

"Usually around 6:30," he said. "I wish you didn't have to leave." Riku bit his lip as he thought about how short a time we had to be together. I almost cried, seeing how broken he was. He'd lived his whole life missing me, never getting over me. And I knew how he felt because I was the same way. I'd never let him go for thirty years.

"I have to, though," I said. "I wish Artemis never passed this down to me!"

"She gave you a wonderful gift, Thalia," he said. "If she hadn't, then you'd still be dead. She only did this for you because she loved you. And I love you, so I'm happy you're alive again. You gave your life for me, and that's the greatest display of love I can think of. Seeing you this last time…my life feels complete. And maybe you can see me in the Underworld when I'm dead."

"I guess you're right, Riku," I said. I kissed him furiously, as if it were the last time I would ever kiss him. Crawling on top of him, I cried as I held onto him as if my life depended on it. "I love you."

"Love you too, Thalia," he said as he wrapped his arms around my back, pressing me tighter to him.

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><p>That day came and went like a blur, and it was time for me to leave before I even knew it. Riku held me as he opened a Corridor of Darkness to Hades' throne room in the Underworld. "I guess this is goodbye forever," he said.<p>

"Yeah, I guess it is," I said. "But before I go, I just want you to know that I love you, and will love you for the rest of eternity."

"And I'll love you forever too," he said. He pulled me into one more kiss and I kissed him back. Our tongues danced as I savored his flavor. He pulled away and looked at the sun, which was drawing ever closer to the horizon. "You should probably go before the portal closes." A small tear escaped his green eyes. "Goodbye, Thalia Grace."

"Goodbye, Riku," I said as I backed through the Corridor of Darkness. The dark cloud swirled and sealed itself behind me. I had no choice but to continue through to the Underworld.

After walking for a minute or so, I reached the end of the portal. I took in the sight of Hades' dreary throne room. It's décor of skulls and death only made my depression worse. I'd heal eventually, but it would take years, maybe decades. My heart had an open wound that was left when I had that last look at Riku's face. That image would haunt me for eternity. I stepped through the portal back home just before it started to close, leaving that universe forever and returning to my home on Olympus.

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><p>Author's Note: So, how did you like it? Thank you all so much for following this story. Words can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to you all. I've enjoyed writing this, and am deeply sad that it must come to a close. But this isn't the end of the Hearts series. After I get so far into Light and Dark, I will start a new one about my newest OC, Kurami. It will probably be Yami's perspective and take place a few years after Light and Dark.<p>

Thank you all again, and farewell for now.


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